۞ Recite to them the parable of two men! One of them We provided with two vineyards which We surrounded with date-palms, and placed a field of grain in between; 32 Each of the two gardens yielded its produce and did not fail in the least and We made a river to gush through them, 33 And so [the man] had fruit in abundance. And [one day] he said to his friend, bandying words with him, "More wealth have I than thou, and mightier am I as regards [the number and power of my] followers!" 34 And he entered his garden, wronging himself; he said, 'I do not think that this will ever perish; 35 Nor do I believe that the Hour of Resurrection will ever come to pass. And even if I am returned to my Lord, I shall find a better place than this." 36 And his friend answered him in the course of their argument: "Wilt thou blaspheme against Him who has created thee out of dust, and then out of a drop of sperm, and in the end has fashioned thee into a [complete] man? 37 But as far as I am concerned, God alone is my Lord and I set up no partners with Him. 38 When you entered your garden, why did you not say: 'As God may please;' for no one has power except given by God? Though you see me poorer in wealth and children than you, 39 it may well be that my Lord will give me something better than your vineyard, and send a calamity upon your vineyard from the heavens and it will be reduced to a barren waste, 40 or cause the streams in your garden to disappear under the ground such that you will never be able to find them. 41 And his vines were overtaken (with disaster), and he began to wring his hands (at the loss) of what he had spent on them, for the vines had fallen upon their trellises; and he said: "Would to God that I had not associated any one with my Lord." 42 But there was no host to help him, apart from God, and he was helpless. 43 For thus it is: all protective power belongs to God alone, the True One. He is the best to grant recompense, and the best to determine what is to be. 44