The Quran

وَلَقَد آتَينا لُقمانَ الحِكمَةَ أَنِ اشكُر لِلَّهِ ۚ وَمَن يَشكُر فَإِنَّما يَشكُرُ لِنَفسِهِ ۖ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ حَميدٌ

Muhammad Asad

AND, INDEED, We granted this wisdom unto Luqman:¹ "Be grateful unto God - for he who is grateful [unto Him] is but grateful for the good of his own self; whereas he who chooses to be ungrateful [ought to know that], verily, God is self-sufficient, ever to be praised!"

Popularly (though without sufficient justification) identified with Aesop, Luqman is a legendary figure firmly established in ancient Arabian tradition as a prototype of the sage who disdains worldly honours or benefits and strives for inner perfection. Celebrated in a poem by Ziyad ibn Mu'awiyah (better known under his pen-name Nibighah adh-Dhubyani), who lived in the sixth century of the Christian era, the person of Luqman had become, long before the advent of Islam, a focal point of innumerable legends, stories and parables expressive of wisdom and spiritual maturity: and it is for this reason that the Qur'an uses this mythical figure - as it uses the equally mythical figure of Al-Khidr in surah 18 - as a vehicle for some of its admonitions bearing upon the manner in which man ought to behave.