Surah An-Nahl
Chapter 16 · Verse 75 · Revealed in Makkah
“Allah 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 Allah! But most of them do not know.”
Translation: Saheeh International
Listen to recitation
Mishary Rashid Alafasy
Reflection — Ibn Kathir
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 لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ
Reflection — Maarif ul Quran
In the first of the two examples given in the last two verses, the description is that of a master and a slave, that is, the owner and the owned. By giving this example, it is being said: When these two, despite being from the same genus and the same kind, cannot be equal to each other, how then could you equate someone or something created by Allah with Him?
What does this verse bring up for you today?