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 the wrong-doers follow their desires without any knowledge. Who, then, can show the way to him whom Allah lets go astray? Such shall have no helpers. 29 So set thou thy face steadily and truly to the Faith: (establish) Allah's handiwork according to the pattern on which He has made mankind: no change (let there be) in the work (wrought) by Allah: that is the standard Religion: but most among mankind understand not. 30 ۞ Turning unto Him (only); and be careful of your duty unto Him and establish worship, and be not of those who ascribe partners (unto Him); 31 Of those who divided their religion and became sects; every sect rejoicing in what they had with them 32 When affliction befalls mankind they turn to Him calling their Lord in prayer, but when He lets them taste His Mercy, some of them assign associates to their Lord, 33 [as if] to prove their ingratitude for all that We have granted them! Enjoy, then, your [brief] life: but in time you will come to know [the truth]! 34 Or have We sent down authority to them, which points out to them the things to which they pay part-worship? 35 And [thus it is:] when we let men taste [Our] grace, they rejoice in it; but if evil befalls them as an outcome of what their own hands have wrought lo! they lose all hope! 36 Are they, then, not aware that it is God who grants abundant sustenance, or gives it in scant measure, unto whomever He wills? In this, behold, there are messages indeed for people who will believe! 37 So give the relative his right, as well as the needy and the traveler. That is best for those who desire the countenance of Allah, and it is they who will be the successful. 38 That which you give in usury so that it increases in other people's wealth, will not increase with Allah; but the charity you give desiring the Face of Allah, to those, they shall be recompensed many times over. 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