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 nay - they who are bent on evildoing follow but their own desires, without having any knowledge (of the truth). And who could guide those whom God has [thus] let go astray, and who (thereupon) have none to succour them? 29 (Muhammad), be devoted to the upright religion. It is harmonious with the nature which God has designed for people. The design of God cannot be altered. Thus is the upright religion, but many people do not know. 30 ۞ Inclining towards Him – and fear Him, and keep the prayer established, and never be of the polytheists. 31 [or] among those who have broken the unity of their faith and have become sects, each group delighting in but what they themselves hold [by way of tenets]. 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 So that they will deny what We have granted them. Then enjoy yourselves, for you are going to know. 34 Or have We sent down to them any proof, which therefore tells them of My partners? 35 And when We give people the taste of mercy they rejoice at it; and if an ill fortune reaches them because of what their hands have sent ahead – thereupon they lose hope! 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 That which ye lay out for increase through the property of (other) people, will have no increase with Allah: but that which ye lay out for charity, seeking the Countenance of Allah, (will increase): it is these who will get a recompense multiplied. 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