God has favoured some of you over others in the means of subsistence. But those who have been favoured with more do not give of their means to their dependents so that they may become equal with them. Do they then deny God's beneficence?
And Allah has made some among you superior above others in livelihood; so those to whom the superiority is given, will not return their livelihood to their slaves, so they may all become equal in this respect; so do they deny the favours of Allah?
And God has preferred some of you over others in provision;, but those that were preferred shall not give over their provision to that their right hands possess, so that they may be equal therein. What, and do they deny God's blessing?
And on some of you God has bestowed more abundant means of sustenance than on others: and yet, they who are more abundantly favoured are [often] unwilling to share their sustenance with those whom their right hands possess, so that they [all] might be equal in this respect. Will they, then, God's blessings [thus] deny?
And Allah hath preferred some of you over some other in provision; then those who are preferred are not going to hand over their provision to those whom their right hands possess as to be equal in respect thereof. Gainsay they then the favour of Allah?
And Allah has preferred some of you above others in wealth and properties. Then, those who are preferred will by no means hand over their wealth and properties to those (slaves) whom their right hands possess, so that they may be equal with them in respect thereof. Do they then deny the Favour of Allah?
God has favored some of you over others in livelihood. Those who are favored would not give their properties to their servants, to the extent of making them partners in it. Will they then renounce God’s blessings?
Allah has favoured some of you with more worldly provisions than others. Then those who are more favoured do not give away their provisions to their slaves lest they become equal sharers in it. Do they, then, deny the favour of Allah?
And Allah honored some of you over others with wealth and properties. Then, those who are so honored will by no means hand over their wealth and properties to those (captives of war) whom their right hands possess, so that they may be equal with them in that. Do they then deny the favor of Allah
And Allah hath favoured some of you above others in provision. Now those who are more favoured will by no means hand over their provision to those (slaves) whom their right hands possess, so that they may be equal with them in respect thereof. Is it then the grace of Allah that they deny?
Allah has granted some of you an advantage over others in [respect of] provision. Those who have been granted an advantage do not give over their provision to their slaves so that they become equal in its respect. What, do they deny the blessing of Allah?
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?
And Allah has favored some of you over others in provision. But those who were favored would not hand over their provision to those whom their right hands possess so they would be equal to them therein. Then is it the favor of Allah they reject?
God has made some of you richer than others. The rich ones do not have to give away their property to their slaves to make them equally rich. Do they reject the bounties of God?
And Allah has made some of you excel others in the means of subsistence, so those who are made to excel do not give away their sustenance to those whom their right hands possess so that they should be equal therein; is it then the favor of Allah which they deny?
Wa<b>A</b>ll<u>a</u>hu fa<u>dd</u>ala baAA<u>d</u>akum AAal<u>a</u> baAA<u>d</u>in fee a<b>l</b>rrizqi fam<u>a</u> alla<u>th</u>eena fu<u>dd</u>iloo bir<u>a</u>ddee rizqihim AAal<u>a</u> m<u>a</u> malakat aym<u>a</u>nuhum fahum feehi saw<u>a</u>on afabiniAAmati All<u>a</u>hi yaj<u>h</u>adoon<b>a</b>
God has given some of you more provision than others. Those who have been given more are unwilling to pass their provision to the servants they possess so that they become their equals. Will they then deny the favour of God?
Allah has bestowed His gifts of sustenance more freely on some of you than on others: those more favoured are not going to throw back their gifts to those whom their right hands possess, so as to be equal in that respect. Will they then deny the favours of Allah?
وَٱللَّهُ فَضَّلَ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ فِى ٱلرِّزْقِ فَمَا ٱلَّذِينَ فُضِّلُوا۟ بِرَآدِّى رِزْقِهِمْ عَلَىٰ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَٰنُهُمْ فَهُمْ فِيهِ سَوَآءٌ أَفَبِنِعْمَةِ ٱللَّهِ يَجْحَدُونَ
Allah, may He be glorified, has given some of you preference over others in the provision that He has granted you and has made some you some of you rich and others poor, some of you leaders and others subjects. Those whom Allah has given preference in provision are not willing to pass on what Allah has given them to their servants, so that they become equal partners in the ownership thereof. How then are they pleased for Allah to have partners from amongst His servants when they are not pleased for themselves to have partners from amongst their servants who are equal to them? What injustice is this and what rejection of Allah’s favours can be worse than this?!
Allah, may He be glorified, has given some of you preference over others in the provision that He has granted you and has made some you some of you rich and others poor, some of you leaders and others subjects. Those whom Allah has given preference in provision are not willing to pass on what Allah has given them to their servants, so that they become equal partners in the ownership thereof. How then are they pleased for Allah to have partners from amongst His servants when they are not pleased for themselves to have partners from amongst their servants who are equal to them? What injustice is this and what rejection of Allah’s favours can be worse than this?!
<p>Commentary</p><p>In the previous verses, by referring to major manifestations of His knowledge and power and blessings which descend on human beings, Allah Ta` ala has the natural proof of His Oneness (Tauhid). By looking at it, even a person of ordinary commonsense would not accept that any created being can hold a share with Allah Ta’ ala in His attributes of knowledge and power, or in any of the others. In the present verse, this very subject of Tauhid has been brought into focus by citing the example of a case in mutual dealing.</p><p>It is being said here that Allah Ta’ ala has not, in His infinite wisdom, and in view of His consideration for human good, made all human beings equals in terms of rizq or provision. Instead, He has given some of them preference over some others establishing different degrees therein. Someone was made so rich that he owns a lot of things, keeps a staff of all sorts of servers, spends as he wishes, and his servers too benefit through him. Then, someone was made to work for others who, far from spending on others, was cut out to receive his own expenditure from others. Then, someone was made to be somewhere in the middle, neither so rich as to spend on others, nor so poor and needy as to be dependent upon others even in the necessities of life.</p><p>Everyone is aware of the outcome of this natural distribution that he who was given preference in provision and made rich and need-free would never accept to distribute his wealth among his slaves and servants in a way that they too become his equals in wealth.</p><p>Understand the drive of this argument by applying this example on polytheists. They too accept that the idols and other created things they worship are, after all, created and owned by Allah Ta’ ala. If so, how can they suggest that the created and the owned become equals to their Creator and Master? Do such people see all these signs and hear all these words, yet go on to ascribe partners and equals to Allah, the necessary result of which is that they reject the blessings given by Allah? Because, if they had admitted that all these blessings have been given by Allah Ta` ala without the intervention of any self-carved idol, icon, human being and Jinn, then, how could they have equated these things with Allah Ta` ala?</p><p>The same subject has been taken up in the following verse of Surah Ar-Rum: كَيْ لَا يَكُونَ دُولَةً بَيْنَ الْأَغْنِيَاءِ مِنكُمْ We have given for you an example from your own people. Have those who are your subjects become sharers with you in the provision given to you by Us whereby you are equal in it? (30:28)</p><p>The outcome of this too is: When you do not like to let your servants and your slaves whom you own become equal to yourself, how can you like for Allah that He, and things created and owned by Him, become equal to Him?</p><p>The Difference in Degrees of Economic Status is Mercy for Mankind</p><p>This verse makes it clear that the presence of different degrees economic status among human beings - that someone is poor, another rich and yet another somewhere in the middle - is not accidental. It is as dictated by the wisdom of Allah Ta’ ala, as required by considerations for human good, and is mercy for mankind. If this state (of human society) were not to prevail and if all human beings were to become equal in wealth and possessions, it would have caused a breach of function in world order. Therefore, since the time the world became populated, all human beings have never been equal in terms of wealth and property, in any period, or age, nor can they be. Should such an equality were to be created compulsorily, it will take only a few days when disruption and disorder become openly visible through the entire spectrum of human dealings. Allah Ta’ ala has created human beings with varying degrees of temperaments as conditioned by intelligence, strength and functional ability. They have been further classified as low, high and average, a fact which cannot be rejected by any reasonable person. Similarly, it is also inevitable that there be different degrees in wealth and property as well so that every single person is rewarded in terms of individual capability. If the capable and the incapable were made equal, it wi11 discourage the capable. When the capable person has to stay at par with the in-capable in economic pursuits, what other motivation would compel him to go on striving and achieving excellence? The necessary outcome of such an approach will be no other but the demise of excellence acquired through functional capability.</p><p>Qur'anic Injunctions Against Concentration of Wealth</p><p>Whereas the Creator of the universe gave preference to some over others in physical and rational faculties, and established variance in pro-vision, wealth and property, subject to it, He has also established a strong system of economic equilibrium which aims that no particular group or party or a few individuals take over the treasures of wealth and centers of economic activity. This system also guards against the consequences of such a takeover which dries up the very field where capable people could thrive by utilizing their physical, intellectual and technical capabilities and advance economically. For this purpose, it was said in the Holy Qur’ an: كَيْ لَا يَكُونَ دُولَةً بَيْنَ الْأَغْنِيَاءِ مِنكُمْ. It means: (We made the law of distribution of wealth,) so that wealth does not come to be revolving among the rich from among you - Al-Hashar, 59:7.</p><p>The widespread turbulence being experienced in the economic systems of the modern world is directly the result of bypassing this wise law given to us by Divine wisdom. On the one hand, there is the capitalist system in which some individuals or groups virtually take over the nerve centers of wealth through the medium of interest and gambling and go on to enslave the entire creation of Allah economically. They are rendered so helpless that they have no escape route left but to serve like slaves and work like dogs in order to get what they can to eke out a living, no matter how miserable. In a situation so sordid, it is a far cry that they would ever be able to step into the field of industry or trade despite having the best of capabilities for this purpose.</p><p>As a reaction to this tyranny of capitalists, there rises a counter system in the name of socialism or communism. Their slogan is the removal of disparity between the rich and poor and the creation of equality between all. Masses of people already harassed by the injustices of the capitalist system go after the slogan. But, very soon, they discover that the slogan was nothing but deception. The dream of economic equality never came true. The poor person, despite poverty and hunger, had a certain human dignity, a certain right to do what he wished, but even that human dignity was snatched away by the system. In the communist system, the worth of a human person is no more than a part of its machines. Private ownership of property is simply out of question there. The factory worker owns nothing, not even the spouse and children. Everyone is a part of the state machine. When the machine starts, they have no choice but to start working on their jobs. Other than the so-called objectives of the state, the worker has no conscience or voice. The slightest grievance against the tyranny of the state and that unbearable labour on the job is counted as rebellion against the state the punishment for which is death. In short, hostility towards God and religion and adherence to bland materialism is the basic principle of communism.</p><p>These are facts no communist can deny. The writings and doings of their commissars are proofs of this assertion for compiling relevant references to these amounts to making a regular book out of them.</p><p>The Holy Qur'an has provided a system in between the two extremes of tyrannical capitalism and Quixotic communism keeping it free from excess and deficiency so that no individual or group could, despite there being a naturally placed dissimilarity in provision and wealth, go on to make the creation of Allah at large their slaves only to condemn them to ever rising prices of commodities and virtual famines. By declaring interest and gambling to be unlawful, it has demolished the foundations of illegitimate capitalism. Then, by making a categorical statement that the poor and needy have a right in the wealth of every Muslim, they were admitted as sharers, which is not supposed to be some favour done to them. In fact, it is the fulfillment of a duty. The verse:	فِي أَمْوَالِهِمْ حَقٌّ مَّعْلُومٌ. (in their wealth, there is a known right for the asking and the deprived - Al-Ma’ arij, 70:24) proves it. After that, by distributing the en-tire property of a deceased person over individual inheritors of the family, it has eliminated the concentration of wealth. Natural streams, high seas and the self-growing produce of mountain forests were declared to be the common capital of the entire creation of Allah. No individual or group can take possession over them as something owned by them. This is not permissible. Contrary to this, in a capitalist system, these bless-ings are handled as something owned by capitalists only (under one or the other pretext).</p><p>Since diversity and difference in intellectual and practical capabilities is a natural phenomena, and the pursuit of economic gains through them also depends on these very capabilities, therefore, diversity or dissimilarity in the ownership of wealth and property is also a dictate of wisdom. Whoever has the least sense of how things work in this world would find it hard to deny this truth. Even the champions of the slogan of equality could not go far enough with it. They had to abandon their claim of flat equality and were left with no choice but to introduce dissimilarity and incentive-oriented policy in national economy. On May 5, 1960, speaking before the Supreme Soviet, Nikita Khurshev said:</p><p>'We are against the movement to eliminate difference in wages. We are openly against the efforts to establish equality in emoluments and to bring them at par. This is the teaching of Lenin. He taught that material motivations will be given full consideration in a socialist society.' (Soviet World, p.346)</p><p>That the dream of economic equality had translated itself into its absence since the very early stages, but it did not take much time to witness that this absence of equality and the disparity between the rich and the poor in the communist state of Russia had gone much beyond the general run of capitalist countries. Lyon Sidov writes:</p><p>'Perhaps, there is no developed capitalist country where the disparity in the wages of workers is as high as in Soviet Russia.'</p><p>These few examples from the contemporary scene show how deniers were themselves compelled to confirm the truth of the verse: كَيْ لَا يَكُونَ دُولَةً بَيْنَ الْأَغْنِيَاءِ مِنكُمْ (And Allah has given some of you preference over others in provision - 71) and that (Allah does what He wills). As for comments under this verse, the purpose was limited to pointing out that the dissimilarity in provision and wealth is very natural and very much in accordance with considerations for human good. That which remains is the discussion of the Islamic Principles of Distribution of Wealth and how they distinctly differ from capitalism and communism both. Insha’ Allah, this will appear under comments on: نَحنُ قَسَمْنَا بَيْنَهُم مَّعِيشَتَهُمْ (We have distributed among them their livelihood - Al-Zukhruf, 43:32) appearing in Ma` ariful-Qur’ an, Volume VII. An independent treatise on this subject entitled: 'Islam Ka Nizam-e-Taqsim-e-Daulat' written by this humble writer should also be sufficient for this purpose. [ This is also available in its Engish translation made by Professor Hasan Askari under the title: DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN ISLAM from the publishers, Maktaba-e-Darul-Uloom, Korangi, Karachi, Pakistan ]</p>
CommentaryIn the previous verses, by referring to major manifestations of His knowledge and power and blessings which descend on human beings, Allah Ta` ala has the natural proof of His Oneness (Tauhid). By looking at it, even a person of ordinary commonsense would not accept that any created being can hold a share with Allah Ta’ ala in His attributes of knowledge and power, or in any of the others. In the present verse, this very subject of Tauhid has been brought into focus by citing the example of a case in mutual dealing.It is being said here that Allah Ta’ ala has not, in His infinite wisdom, and in view of His consideration for human good, made all human beings equals in terms of rizq or provision. Instead, He has given some of them preference over some others establishing different degrees therein. Someone was made so rich that he owns a lot of things, keeps a staff of all sorts of servers, spends as he wishes, and his servers too benefit through him. Then, someone was made to work for others who, far from spending on others, was cut out to receive his own expenditure from others. Then, someone was made to be somewhere in the middle, neither so rich as to spend on others, nor so poor and needy as to be dependent upon others even in the necessities of life.Everyone is aware of the outcome of this natural distribution that he who was given preference in provision and made rich and need-free would never accept to distribute his wealth among his slaves and servants in a way that they too become his equals in wealth.Understand the drive of this argument by applying this example on polytheists. They too accept that the idols and other created things they worship are, after all, created and owned by Allah Ta’ ala. If so, how can they suggest that the created and the owned become equals to their Creator and Master? Do such people see all these signs and hear all these words, yet go on to ascribe partners and equals to Allah, the necessary result of which is that they reject the blessings given by Allah? Because, if they had admitted that all these blessings have been given by Allah Ta` ala without the intervention of any self-carved idol, icon, human being and Jinn, then, how could they have equated these things with Allah Ta` ala?The same subject has been taken up in the following verse of Surah Ar-Rum: كَيْ لَا يَكُونَ دُولَةً بَيْنَ الْأَغْنِيَاءِ مِنكُمْ We have given for you an example from your own people. Have those who are your subjects become sharers with you in the provision given to you by Us whereby you are equal in it? (30:28)The outcome of this too is: When you do not like to let your servants and your slaves whom you own become equal to yourself, how can you like for Allah that He, and things created and owned by Him, become equal to Him?The Difference in Degrees of Economic Status is Mercy for MankindThis verse makes it clear that the presence of different degrees economic status among human beings - that someone is poor, another rich and yet another somewhere in the middle - is not accidental. It is as dictated by the wisdom of Allah Ta’ ala, as required by considerations for human good, and is mercy for mankind. If this state (of human society) were not to prevail and if all human beings were to become equal in wealth and possessions, it would have caused a breach of function in world order. Therefore, since the time the world became populated, all human beings have never been equal in terms of wealth and property, in any period, or age, nor can they be. Should such an equality were to be created compulsorily, it will take only a few days when disruption and disorder become openly visible through the entire spectrum of human dealings. Allah Ta’ ala has created human beings with varying degrees of temperaments as conditioned by intelligence, strength and functional ability. They have been further classified as low, high and average, a fact which cannot be rejected by any reasonable person. Similarly, it is also inevitable that there be different degrees in wealth and property as well so that every single person is rewarded in terms of individual capability. If the capable and the incapable were made equal, it wi11 discourage the capable. When the capable person has to stay at par with the in-capable in economic pursuits, what other motivation would compel him to go on striving and achieving excellence? The necessary outcome of such an approach will be no other but the demise of excellence acquired through functional capability.Qur'anic Injunctions Against Concentration of WealthWhereas the Creator of the universe gave preference to some over others in physical and rational faculties, and established variance in pro-vision, wealth and property, subject to it, He has also established a strong system of economic equilibrium which aims that no particular group or party or a few individuals take over the treasures of wealth and centers of economic activity. This system also guards against the consequences of such a takeover which dries up the very field where capable people could thrive by utilizing their physical, intellectual and technical capabilities and advance economically. For this purpose, it was said in the Holy Qur’ an: كَيْ لَا يَكُونَ دُولَةً بَيْنَ الْأَغْنِيَاءِ مِنكُمْ. It means: (We made the law of distribution of wealth,) so that wealth does not come to be revolving among the rich from among you - Al-Hashar, 59:7.The widespread turbulence being experienced in the economic systems of the modern world is directly the result of bypassing this wise law given to us by Divine wisdom. On the one hand, there is the capitalist system in which some individuals or groups virtually take over the nerve centers of wealth through the medium of interest and gambling and go on to enslave the entire creation of Allah economically. They are rendered so helpless that they have no escape route left but to serve like slaves and work like dogs in order to get what they can to eke out a living, no matter how miserable. In a situation so sordid, it is a far cry that they would ever be able to step into the field of industry or trade despite having the best of capabilities for this purpose.As a reaction to this tyranny of capitalists, there rises a counter system in the name of socialism or communism. Their slogan is the removal of disparity between the rich and poor and the creation of equality between all. Masses of people already harassed by the injustices of the capitalist system go after the slogan. But, very soon, they discover that the slogan was nothing but deception. The dream of economic equality never came true. The poor person, despite poverty and hunger, had a certain human dignity, a certain right to do what he wished, but even that human dignity was snatched away by the system. In the communist system, the worth of a human person is no more than a part of its machines. Private ownership of property is simply out of question there. The factory worker owns nothing, not even the spouse and children. Everyone is a part of the state machine. When the machine starts, they have no choice but to start working on their jobs. Other than the so-called objectives of the state, the worker has no conscience or voice. The slightest grievance against the tyranny of the state and that unbearable labour on the job is counted as rebellion against the state the punishment for which is death. In short, hostility towards God and religion and adherence to bland materialism is the basic principle of communism.These are facts no communist can deny. The writings and doings of their commissars are proofs of this assertion for compiling relevant references to these amounts to making a regular book out of them.The Holy Qur'an has provided a system in between the two extremes of tyrannical capitalism and Quixotic communism keeping it free from excess and deficiency so that no individual or group could, despite there being a naturally placed dissimilarity in provision and wealth, go on to make the creation of Allah at large their slaves only to condemn them to ever rising prices of commodities and virtual famines. By declaring interest and gambling to be unlawful, it has demolished the foundations of illegitimate capitalism. Then, by making a categorical statement that the poor and needy have a right in the wealth of every Muslim, they were admitted as sharers, which is not supposed to be some favour done to them. In fact, it is the fulfillment of a duty. The verse:	فِي أَمْوَالِهِمْ حَقٌّ مَّعْلُومٌ. (in their wealth, there is a known right for the asking and the deprived - Al-Ma’ arij, 70:24) proves it. After that, by distributing the en-tire property of a deceased person over individual inheritors of the family, it has eliminated the concentration of wealth. Natural streams, high seas and the self-growing produce of mountain forests were declared to be the common capital of the entire creation of Allah. No individual or group can take possession over them as something owned by them. This is not permissible. Contrary to this, in a capitalist system, these bless-ings are handled as something owned by capitalists only (under one or the other pretext).Since diversity and difference in intellectual and practical capabilities is a natural phenomena, and the pursuit of economic gains through them also depends on these very capabilities, therefore, diversity or dissimilarity in the ownership of wealth and property is also a dictate of wisdom. Whoever has the least sense of how things work in this world would find it hard to deny this truth. Even the champions of the slogan of equality could not go far enough with it. They had to abandon their claim of flat equality and were left with no choice but to introduce dissimilarity and incentive-oriented policy in national economy. On May 5, 1960, speaking before the Supreme Soviet, Nikita Khurshev said:'We are against the movement to eliminate difference in wages. We are openly against the efforts to establish equality in emoluments and to bring them at par. This is the teaching of Lenin. He taught that material motivations will be given full consideration in a socialist society.' (Soviet World, p.346)That the dream of economic equality had translated itself into its absence since the very early stages, but it did not take much time to witness that this absence of equality and the disparity between the rich and the poor in the communist state of Russia had gone much beyond the general run of capitalist countries. Lyon Sidov writes:'Perhaps, there is no developed capitalist country where the disparity in the wages of workers is as high as in Soviet Russia.'These few examples from the contemporary scene show how deniers were themselves compelled to confirm the truth of the verse: كَيْ لَا يَكُونَ دُولَةً بَيْنَ الْأَغْنِيَاءِ مِنكُمْ (And Allah has given some of you preference over others in provision - 71) and that (Allah does what He wills). As for comments under this verse, the purpose was limited to pointing out that the dissimilarity in provision and wealth is very natural and very much in accordance with considerations for human good. That which remains is the discussion of the Islamic Principles of Distribution of Wealth and how they distinctly differ from capitalism and communism both. Insha’ Allah, this will appear under comments on: نَحنُ قَسَمْنَا بَيْنَهُم مَّعِيشَتَهُمْ (We have distributed among them their livelihood - Al-Zukhruf, 43:32) appearing in Ma` ariful-Qur’ an, Volume VII. An independent treatise on this subject entitled: 'Islam Ka Nizam-e-Taqsim-e-Daulat' written by this humble writer should also be sufficient for this purpose. [ This is also available in its Engish translation made by Professor Hasan Askari under the title: DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN ISLAM from the publishers, Maktaba-e-Darul-Uloom, Korangi, Karachi, Pakistan ]
<h2 class="title">There is a Sign and a Blessing in Matters of People's Livelihood</h2><p>Allah explains to the idolators the ignorance and disbelief involved in their claim that Allah has partners while also admitting that these partners are His servants. In their Talbiyah for Hajj, they used to say, "Here I am, there are no partners for You except Your own partner, You own him and everything he owns." Allah says, denouncing them: `You would not accept for your servant to have an equal share in your wealth, so how is it that Allah would accept His servant to be His equal in divinity and glory As Allah says elsewhere: </p><div class="text_uthmani arabic">ضَرَبَ لَكُمْ مَّثَلاً مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ هَلْ لَّكُمْ مِّن مَّا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَـنُكُمْ مِّن شُرَكَآءَ فِى مَا رَزَقْنَـكُمْ فَأَنتُمْ فِيهِ سَوَآءٌ تَخَافُونَهُمْ كَخِيفَتِكُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ</div><p>(He sets forth a parable for you from yourselves: Do you have partners among those whom your right hands possess (i.e. your servant) to share as equals in the wealth We have granted you, those whom you fear as you fear each other) (30:28) Al-`Awfi reported that Ibn `Abbas mentioned this Ayah, saying, "Allah is saying - `If they did not want their servant to have a share with them in their wealth and wives, how can My servant have a share with Me in My power' Thus Allah says: </p><div class="text_uthmani arabic">أَفَبِنِعْمَةِ اللَّهِ يَجْحَدُونَ</div><p>(Do they then deny the favor of Allah)" According to another report, Ibn `Abbas said: "How can they accept for Me that which they do not accept for themselves" </p><div class="text_uthmani arabic">أَفَبِنِعْمَةِ اللَّهِ يَجْحَدُونَ</div><p>(Do they then deny the favor of Allah) meaning, they assign to Allah a share of the tilth and cattle which He has created. They denied His blessings and associated others in worship with Him. Al-Hasan Al-Basri said: "Umar bin Al-Khattab wrote this letter to Abu Musa Al-Ash`ari: `Be content with your provision in this world, for the Most Merciful has honored some of His servants over others in terms of provision as a test of both. The one who has been given plenty is being tested to see if he will give thanks to Allah and fulfill the duties which are his by virtue of his wealth..."' It was reported by Ibn Abi Hatim. </p>
There is a Sign and a Blessing in Matters of People's LivelihoodAllah explains to the idolators the ignorance and disbelief involved in their claim that Allah has partners while also admitting that these partners are His servants. In their Talbiyah for Hajj, they used to say, "Here I am, there are no partners for You except Your own partner, You own him and everything he owns." Allah says, denouncing them: `You would not accept for your servant to have an equal share in your wealth, so how is it that Allah would accept His servant to be His equal in divinity and glory As Allah says elsewhere: ضَرَبَ لَكُمْ مَّثَلاً مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ هَلْ لَّكُمْ مِّن مَّا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَـنُكُمْ مِّن شُرَكَآءَ فِى مَا رَزَقْنَـكُمْ فَأَنتُمْ فِيهِ سَوَآءٌ تَخَافُونَهُمْ كَخِيفَتِكُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ(He sets forth a parable for you from yourselves: Do you have partners among those whom your right hands possess (i.e. your servant) to share as equals in the wealth We have granted you, those whom you fear as you fear each other) (30:28) Al-`Awfi reported that Ibn `Abbas mentioned this Ayah, saying, "Allah is saying - `If they did not want their servant to have a share with them in their wealth and wives, how can My servant have a share with Me in My power' Thus Allah says: أَفَبِنِعْمَةِ اللَّهِ يَجْحَدُونَ(Do they then deny the favor of Allah)" According to another report, Ibn `Abbas said: "How can they accept for Me that which they do not accept for themselves" أَفَبِنِعْمَةِ اللَّهِ يَجْحَدُونَ(Do they then deny the favor of Allah) meaning, they assign to Allah a share of the tilth and cattle which He has created. They denied His blessings and associated others in worship with Him. Al-Hasan Al-Basri said: "Umar bin Al-Khattab wrote this letter to Abu Musa Al-Ash`ari: `Be content with your provision in this world, for the Most Merciful has honored some of His servants over others in terms of provision as a test of both. The one who has been given plenty is being tested to see if he will give thanks to Allah and fulfill the duties which are his by virtue of his wealth..."' It was reported by Ibn Abi Hatim. 