Surah An-Nahl, Ayah 75
Quran 16:75 · The Bee · Makki · Para 14 · Page 275
ضَرَبَ اللّٰهُ مَثَلًا عَبْدًا مَّمْلُوْكًا لَّا یَقْدِرُ عَلٰی شَیْءٍ وَّمَنْ رَّزَقْنٰهُ مِنَّا رِزْقًا حَسَنًا فَهُوَ یُنْفِقُ مِنْهُ سِرًّا وَّجَهْرًا ؕ هَلْ یَسْتَوٗنَ ؕ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ ؕ بَلْ اَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا یَعْلَمُوْنَ ۟
Transliteration
Daraba Allahu mathalan AAabdanmamlookan la yaqdiru AAala shay-in waman razaqnahuminna rizqan hasanan fahuwa yunfiqu minhu sirranwajahran hal yastawoona alhamdu lillahi balaktharuhum la yaAAlamoon
Saheeh International
Allāh presents an example: a slave [who is] owned and unable to do a thing and he to whom We have provided from Us good provision, so he spends from it secretly and publicly. Can they be equal? Praise to Allāh! But most of them do not know.
Al-Mukhtasar fi Tafsir
Allah, may He be glorified, strikes an example to refute the idolaters: A bonded slave that is unable to do anything and who has nothing to spend as compared to a free person to whom We have given from our side lawful wealth that he uses as he wills and spends from it secretly and openly as he wills. These two men are not equal. How then do you make Allah who is the Owner of everything, who spends in His dominion and does what He wills, equal to those powerless idols? Praise be to Allah Who is deserving of all praise. Rather, most of the idolaters do not know that Allah is Single in His divinity and that He alone deserves to be worshipped.
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (abridged)
Allah gives the example of a servant under the possession of another, he has no power of any sort, and a man on whom We have bestowed good provisions from Us, and he spends from that secretly and openly. Can they be equal? (By no means). All the praises and thanks are to Allah. Nay! (But) most of them know not (75)
The Example of the Believer and the Disbeliever, or the Idol and the True God
Al-'Awfi reported that Ibn 'Abbas said: "This is the example which Allah gives of the disbeliever and the believer." This was also the view of Qatadah and Ibn Jarir. The servant who has no power over anything is like the disbeliever, and the one who is given good provisions and spends of them secretly and openly is like the believer. Ibn Abi Najih reported that Mujahid said: "This is an example given of the idol and the True God - can they be the same?" Once the difference between them is so clear and so obvious, no one can be unaware of it except the one who is foolish. Allah says:
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ۚ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
(All the praises and thanks are to Allah. Nay! (But) most of them know not.)