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Sura 17
Aya 100
100
قُل لَو أَنتُم تَملِكونَ خَزائِنَ رَحمَةِ رَبّي إِذًا لَأَمسَكتُم خَشيَةَ الإِنفاقِ ۚ وَكانَ الإِنسانُ قَتورًا

Muhammad Asad

Say: "If you were to own' all the treasure-houses of my Sustainer's bounty,1 lo! you would still try to hold on [to them] tightly for fear of spending [too much]: for man has always been avaricious [whereas God is limitless in His bounty].2
  • Lit., "grace" (rahmah).
  • I.e., since man is, by his very nature, dependent on material possessions, he instinctively tries to hold on to them; God, on the other hand, is self-sufficient and, therefore, above all need of placing any limits on His bestowal of bounty (hence my interpolation). This implied reference to God's grace and bounty is necessitated by the emphasis, in the preceding as well as in the subsequent passages, on the fact that He has never ceased to guide man, through His prophets, towards the good life.