16:75 An-Nahl (The Bee)

ضرب تعالى مثلين له ولمن يعبد من دونه، أحدهما عبد مملوك أي: رقيق لا يملك نفسه ولا يملك من المال والدنيا شيئا، والثاني حرٌّ غنيٌّ قد رزقه الله منه رزقا حسنا من جميع أصناف المال وهو كريم محب للإحسان، فهو ينفق منه سرا وجهرا، هل يستوي هذا وذاك؟! لا يستويان مع أنهما مخلوقان، غير محال استواؤهما. فإذا كانا لا يستويان، فكيف يستوي المخلوق العبد الذي ليس له ملك ولا قدرة ولا استطاعة، بل هو فقير من جميع الوجوه بالرب الخالق المالك لجميع الممالك القادر على كل شيء؟\" ولهذا حمد نفسه واختص بالحمد بأنواعه فقال: { الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ } فكأنه قيل: إذا كان الأمر كذلك فلم سوَّى المشركون آلهتهم بالله؟ قال: { بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ } فلو علموا حقيقة العلم لم يتجرؤوا على الشرك العظيم.

قال العوفي عن ابن عباس: هذا مثل ضربه الله للكافر والمؤمن وكذا قال قتادة واختاره ابن جرير فالعبد المملوك الذي لا يقدر على شيء مثل الكافر والمرزوق الرزق الحسن فهو ينفق منه سرا وجهرا هو المؤمن. وقال ابن أبي نجيح عن مجاهد: هو مثل مضروب للوثن وللحق تعالى فهل يستوي هذا وهذا؟ ولما كان الفرق بينهما ظاهرا واضحا بينا لا يجهله إلا كل غبي قال الله تعالى "الحمد لله بل أكثرهم لا يعلمون".

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

(All the praises and thanks are to Allah. Nay! (But) most of them know not.)

God strikes a similitude mathalan this is substituted by the following ‘abdan mamlūkan a slave who is a chattel mamlūkan an adjective to distinguish him this type of slave from a free man who is the servant of God alone having no power over anything since he has no mastery and one on whom man is an indefinite noun adjectivally qualified in other words a free man We have bestowed a fair provision from Us such that he spends thereof secretly and openly that is disposing of it as he wishes the first similitude is for the idols while the second is His exalted be He. Are they equal? the powerless slaves and the dispensing free men? No. Praise belongs to God alone. But most of them that is the people of Mecca do not know the chastisement they will come to and so they associate others with God.

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?

(Allah coineth a similitude: (on the one hand) a (mere) chattel slave, who hath control of nothing, and (on the other hand) one on whom we have bestowed a fair provision from Us, and he spendeth thereof secretly and openly. Are they equal? Praise be to Allah! But most of them know not. And Allah coineth a similitude: Two men, one of them dumb, having control of nothing, and he is a burden on his owner; whithersoever he directeth him to go, he bringeth no good. Is he equal with one who enjoineth justice and followeth a straight path (of conduct)?) [16:75-76]. Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya informed us> Abu Bakr ibn al-Anbari> Ja�far ibn Muhammad ibn Shakir> �Affan> Wuhayb> �Abd Allah ibn �Uthman ibn Khuthaym> Ibrahim> �Ikrimah> Ibn �Abbas who said: �This verse (Allah coineth a similitude: (on the one hand) a (mere) chattel slave�) about Hisham ibn �Amr who used to spend his wealth openly and in secret and his client Abu�l-Jawza� who used to bid him to stop doing so. As for the verse (And Allah coineth a similitude: Two men, one of them dumb, having control of nothing), the dumb who has control of nothing is Usayd ibn Abi al-�Is and the one who (enjoineth justice and followeth a straight path�) is �Uthman ibn �Affan�.