The Quran

۞ ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا عَبدًا مَملوكًا لا يَقدِرُ عَلىٰ شَيءٍ وَمَن رَزَقناهُ مِنّا رِزقًا حَسَنًا فَهُوَ يُنفِقُ مِنهُ سِرًّا وَجَهرًا ۖ هَل يَستَوونَ ۚ الحَمدُ لِلَّهِ ۚ بَل أَكثَرُهُم لا يَعلَمونَ

Muhammad Asad

God propounds [to you] the parable of [two men -] a man enslaved, unable to do anything of his own accord, and a [free] man upon whom We have bestowed goodly sustenance [as a gift] from Ourselves, so that he can spend thereof [at will, both] secretly and openly. Can these [two] be deemed equal?¹ All praise is due to God [alone]: but most of them do not understand it.

The obvious answer is that they cannot. The implication is equally clear: if even these two kinds of man cannot be deemed equal, how could any created being, with its intrinsic, utter dependence on other created beings, or any force of nature conceivable or imaginable by man, be thought of as possessing powers comparable with those of God, who is almighty, limitless, unconceivable - the self-sufficient fount of all that exists? (This argument is continued and further elaborated in the subsequent parable.)