ḍaraba lakum mathalan min anfusikum hal lakum min mā malakat aymānukum min shurakāa fī mā razaqnākum fa-antum fīhi sawāon takhāfūnahum kakhīfatikum anfusakum kadhālika nufaṣṣilu l-āyāti liqawmin yaʿqilūna
Translation
He presents to you an example from yourselves. Do you have among those whom your right hands possess [i.e., slaves] any partners in what We have provided for you so that you are equal therein [and] would fear them as your fear of one another [within a partnership]?1144 Thus do We detail the verses for a people who use reason.
Verse 28 of Surah Ar-Rum (30:28), a Meccan surah, is in juz 21, on page 407 of the mushaf. Read it in Arabic with its transliteration, translations and tafsir, and listen to it recited by 74 reciters.
Listen to verse 28 of Surah Ar-Rum
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Tafsir of verse 28
Al-Mukhtasar
O idolaters! Allah mentions an example for you of yourselves: do you have partners from your slaves who are equals to you in everything you own, such that you fear them just as you fear each other? Would you be happy for yourselves with your slaves being such? No doubt, you would not be happy with such an arrangement, so Allah is more worthy that He does not have a partner from His creation in His kingdom. Like that example and in other ways, Allah clearly explains different proofs and evidences for understanding people, because they are the ones who benefit from them.
He makes this comparison for you from your own lives: do you have among your slaves any partners who equally share with you whatever wealth we have given you10, so you are fearing them as you fear one another11? This is how We make the verses clear for people who understand.
Notes
[10] Here Allah says that humans would not let their slaves be their partners in their wealth, how can they accept helpless humans as partners with Allah Who owns the whole universe in His dominion?!
[11] So you fear those slaves to share with you your wealth equally, similar to your fear of your free partners to share with you your wealth.
He sets forth for you a parable from your ownselves: Do you have partners among those whom your right hands possess (i.e. your slaves) to share as equals in the wealth We have bestowed on you whom you fear as you fear each other? Thus do We explain the signs in detail to a people who have sense.2
Notes
[2] (V.30:28) That is: How do you join to Us partners of that which We created, while you for yourselves will not accept partners from your slaves?.
He coineth for you a similitude of yourselves. Have ye, from among those whom your right hands possess, partners in the wealth We have bestowed upon you, equal with you in respect thereof, so that ye fear them as ye fear each other (that ye ascribe unto Us partners out of that which We created)? Thus We display the revelations for people who have sense.
He does propound to you a similitude from your own (experience): do ye have partners among those whom your right hands possess, to share as equals in the wealth We have bestowed on you? Do ye fear them as ye fear each other? Thus do we explain the Signs in detail to a people that understand.
He sets forth to you a parable relating to yourselves: Have you among those whom your right hands possess partners in what We have given you for sustenance, so that with respect to it you are alike; you fear them as you fear each other? Thus do We make the communications distinct for a people who understand.
He has struck for you a similitude from yourselves: do you have, among what your right hands possess, any associates in what We have provided for you, so that you are equal in regard to it, you fearing them as you have fright of each other? (Literally: yourselves) Thus We expound the signs for a people who consider.
[He is] Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you from yourselves, mates, and among the cattle, mates; He multiplies you thereby. There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.
Verses with similar wording
They share a sequence of words with this verse: useful for telling them apart when memorising.
Say, "Who has forbidden the adornment of [i.e., from] Allāh which He has produced for His servants and the good [lawful] things of provision?" Say, "They are for those who believed during the life of this world, exclusively [for them] on the Day of Resurrection." Thus do We detail the verses for a people who know.
And whoever among you cannot [find] the means to marry free, believing women, then [he may marry] from those whom your right hands possess of believing slave girls. And Allāh is most knowing about your faith. You [believers] are of one another. So marry them with the permission of their people and give them their due compensation [i.e., mahr] according to what is acceptable. [They should be] chaste, neither [of] those who commit unlawful intercourse randomly nor those who take [secret] lovers. But once they are sheltered in marriage, if they should commit adultery, then for them is half the punishment for free [unmarried] women. This [allowance] is for him among you who fears affliction [i.e., sin], but to be patient is better for you. And Allāh is Forgiving and Merciful.
The example of [this] worldly life is but like rain which We have sent down from the sky that the plants of the earth absorb - [those] from which men and livestock eat - until, when the earth has taken on its adornment and is beautified and its people suppose that they have capability over it, there comes to it Our command by night or by day, and We make it as a harvest, as if it had not flourished yesterday. Thus do We explain in detail the signs for a people who give thought.
