In your provisions Allah has preferred some of you above others. But, those who have been preferred do not give their provisions to those whom their right hand possess so that they might be equal therein. What, do they vainly disbelieve the favor of Allah? 71 And God has given you mates of your own kinds and has given you, through your mates, children and children's children, and has provided for you sustenance out of the good things of life. Will men, then, [continue to] believe in things false and vain, and thus blaspheme against God's blessings? 72 Yet they worship those apart from God who cannot provide for them any sustenance from the heavens or the earth, nor will they have power to do so. 73 So do not invent similitudes for God. Indeed God knows, and you do not know. 74 ۞ God propounds [to you] the parable of [two men -] a man enslaved, unable to do anything of his own accord, and a [free] man upon whom We have bestowed goodly sustenance [as a gift] from Ourselves, so that he can spend thereof [at will, both] secretly and openly. Can these [two] be deemed equal? All praise is due to God [alone]: but most of them do not understand it. 75 And God propounds [to you] the parable of two [other] men - one of them dumb, unable to do anything of his own accord, and a sheer burden on his master: to whichever task the latter directs him, he accomplishes no good. Can such a one be considered the equal of [a wise man] who enjoins the doing of what is right and himself follows a straight way? 76