He sets forth for you a parable from your own lives. Do you have among your slaves some who share with you the sustenance that We have bestowed on you so that you become equals in it, all being alike, and then you would hold them in fear as you fear each other? Thus do We make plain the Signs for those who use reason. 28 Nay, but the evildoers follow their own caprices, without knowledge; so who shall guide those whom God has led astray? They have 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 in repentance to Him. Have fear of Him. Be steadfast in your prayer. Do not be like the pagans 31 Of those who split up their religion and became sects, each band in that which is with them exulting. 32 (Such are human beings) that when any misfortune befalls them, they cry to their Lord, penitently turning to Him. But no sooner that He lets them have a taste of His Mercy than some of them begin associating others with their Lord in His Divinity 33 So that they may be ungrateful for that which We have vouchsafed to them. So enjoy awhile; presently ye shall come to know. 34 Or have We sent down to them an authority, and it speaks of what they were associating with Him? 35 And when We let men taste mercy, they rejoice in it; but if some evil befalls them for that their own hands have forwarded, behold, they 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 Then give to the near of kin his due, and to the needy and the wayfarer; this is best for those who desire Allah's pleasure, and these it is who are successful. 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 given you sustenance. He will make you die and will bring you back to life. Can any of your idols do such things? God is too Exalted to be considered equal to anything else. 40