۞ (Muhammad), tell them the parable of the two men. To one of them We had given two gardens of vines surrounded by the palm trees with a piece of farm land between them 32 Both the vineyards yielded abundant produce without failure and We caused a stream to flow in their midst 33 so the owner had fruit in abundance and he said to his neighbour, while conversing with him: "I have greater wealth than you and I am stronger than you in numbers." 34 Having thus harmed his own soul, he entered his garden saying, "I do not think this will ever perish, 35 Nor I imagine that the Hour is going to happen; and if am brought back to my Lord, surely I will find something better than this as a retreat. 36 His companion said to him, in the course of the argument with him: "Dost thou deny Him Who created thee out of dust, then out of a sperm-drop, then fashioned thee into a man? 37 But he is Allah, my Lord; and with my Lord I associate not anyone. 38 Why, when thou wentest into thy garden, didst thou not say, "As God will; there is no power except in God"? If thou seest me, that I am less than thou in wealth and children, 39 perhaps my Lord will give me a garden better than yours and strike your garden with a thunderbolt from the sky to turn it into a barren ground, 40 Or else of a morning its water may sink underground, and you will not find a trace of it." 41 Eventually all his produce was destroyed and he began to wring his hands in sorrow at the loss of what he had spent on it, and on seeing it fallen down upon its trellises, saying: "Would I had not associated anyone with my Lord in His Divinity." 42 And there could be no party suceouring him as against Allah, nor could he himself be an avenger. 43 There, the (only) protection comes from Allah, the True One. He is the Best to reward, and the Best to give success. 44