He propounds unto you a parable drawn from your own life: Would you [agree to] have some of those whom your right hands possess as [full-fledged] partners in whatever We may have bestowed upon you as sustenance, so that you [and they] would have equal shares in it, and you would fear [to make use of it without consulting] them, just as you might fear [the more powerful of] your equals? Thus clearly do We spell out these messages unto people who use their reason. 28 But the wrong-doers follow their desires without any knowledge. Who, then, can show the way to him whom Allah lets go astray? Such shall have no helpers. 29 So keep yourself exclusively on the true way, the creational law of God according to which He created man with the quality of choosing right or wrong. There is no altering of God's creation. This is the supreme law. But most men do not understand. 30 ۞ (Adhere to the True Faith and) turn to Him, and hold Him in awe, and establish Prayer, and do not be of those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity, 31 even of those who have divided up their religion, and become sects, each several party rejoicing in what is theirs. 32 When an affliction befalls men, they cry out to their Lord, turning to Him in repentance; but then, when He has made them taste His mercy, a section of them associate partners with their Lord, 33 In order to be ungrateful for Our bestowal; “Therefore enjoy”; you will soon come to know. 34 Or have We sent down to them an authority, and it speaks of what they were associating with Him? 35 When We give people a taste of mercy, they rejoice in it, but when evil befalls them through the forwarding of their own hands, they become despondent. 36 Do they not see that Allah enlarges and straitens the sustenance of those whom He pleases? There are Signs in this for those who believe. 37 Therefore give the relative his right, and to the needy, and to the traveller; this is better for those who seek the pleasure of Allah; and it is they who are the successful. 38 And whatever you give for interest to increase within the wealth of people will not increase with Allah. But what you give in zakah, desiring the countenance of Allah - those are the multipliers. 39 IT IS GOD who has created you, and then has provided you with sustenance, and then will cause you to die, and then will bring you to life again. Can any of those beings or powers to whom you ascribe a share in His divinity do any of these things? Limitless is He in His glory, and sublimely exalted above anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity! 40