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 Aye! those who do wrong follow their own lusts without knowledge. Who, then, will guide him whom Allah hath sent astray? And for them there will be no helpers. 29 Therefore set your attention for obeying Allah, devoted solely to Him; the foundation set by Allah, upon which He created man; do not change what Allah has created; this is the proper religion – but most people do not know. 30 ۞ Turn to Him and fear Him, and be steadfast in prayer, and do not be one of those who associate partners with God, 31 [Or] of those who have divided their religion and become sects, every faction rejoicing in what it has. 32 When people face hardship, they begin praying to their Lord and turn in repentance to Him. When they receive mercy from Him, a group of them begin to consider things equal to God, 33 that they may be ungrateful for what We have given them. 'Take your enjoyment; certainly you will soon know.' 34 Have We sent down any sanction which provides support to their associating others with Allah in His Divinity? 35 When We give men a taste of Our benevolence they start rejoicing in it. When misfortune befalls them as a result of what they have done themselves, they begin to despair. 36 Do they not see that Allah outspreads and restricts His provision to whom He will? Surely, there are signs in this for those who believe. 37 So give the near relative, the needy, and the wayfarer their due -- that is best for those who seek God's pleasure: such men are the ones who will surely prosper. 38 What you give on interest to increase (your capital) through others' wealth, does not find increase with God; yet what you give (in alms and charity) with a pure heart, seeking the way of God, will be doubled. 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