“Allah has favored some of you over others in provision. Yet those who have been favored would not hand over their provision to those whom their right hands possess, so that they would be equal therein. Is it, then, Allah’s favor that they deny? (71) Allah has made for you spouses from among yourselves, and from your spouses He has given you sons and grandchildren, and provided you with wholesome things. Do they then believe in falsehood and deny Allah’s favor? (72)”
“Allah has favored some of you over others in provision”: He has bestowed abundance upon one and restricted another, making some provisions scarce and others plentiful.
“Yet those who have been favored would not hand over their provision to those whom their right hands possess”—that is, their slaves—“so that they would be equal therein”: meaning, so that they and their slaves would become equal in that provision. Allah Most High says: They do not accept that they and their slaves should be equal in what Allah has provided for them, yet they have made My servants partners with Me in My dominion and sovereignty. By this, He establishes the proof against the idolaters.
Qatadah said: This is a parable which Allah, glorified and exalted is He, has set forth. Is there any one of you who would make his slave a partner in his wife, his bed, and his property? How, then, can you equate Allah with His creatures and servants?
“Is it, then, Allah’s favor that they deny?”: by associating partners with Him. Abu Bakr recited it with the second-person form, in light of His saying, “Allah has favored some of you over others in provision,” whereas the others recited it with the third-person form, in light of His saying, “so that they would be equal therein.”
His saying, “Allah has made for you spouses from among yourselves,” means women. He created Eve, Adam’s wife, from Adam. It was also said that “from among yourselves” means spouses from your own kind.
“And from your spouses He has given you sons and grandchildren.” Ibn Mas‘ud and al-Nakha‘i said: Grandchildren here means a man’s sons-in-law through his daughters.
It is also reported from Ibn Mas‘ud that they are in-laws. According to this view, the meaning of the verse is: He has given you, through your spouses, sons and daughters, whom you marry off; and through them you acquire in-laws and marital relatives.
Ikrimah, al-Hasan, and al-Dahhak said: They are servants.
Mujahid said: They are helpers; whoever assists you has served you.
Ata’ said: They are a man’s grandchildren, who assist and serve him.
Qatadah said: They are those among your children who perform work for you and serve you. (1)
Al-Kalbi and Muqatil said: “Sons” refers to young children, and “grandchildren” to older children who assist him in his work.
Mujahid and Sa‘id ibn Jubayr narrated from Ibn Abbas that they are one’s grandchildren.