(37–39) “His companion said to him while conversing with him, ‘Do you disbelieve in the One who created you from dust, then from a drop of fluid, and then fashioned you into a man? But as for me, He is Allah, my Lord, and I associate no one with my Lord. If only, when you entered your garden, you had said, “What Allah has willed! There is no power except through Allah.”’”

That is, his believing companion said to him, advising him and reminding him of his original state, in which Allah brought him into existence in this world: “from dust, then from a drop of fluid, and then fashioned you into a man.” It was He who blessed you by bringing you into existence and sustaining you. He continued to bestow blessings upon you and caused you to pass from one stage to another until He fashioned you into a fully formed man, complete in your bodily members and your sensory and rational faculties. Through these, He made the means available to you and provided you with such worldly blessings as He did. Your worldly possessions did not come to you through your own power and strength, but through Allah Most High’s grace toward you. How, then, could it befit you to disbelieve in Allah, who created you from dust, then from a drop of fluid, and then fashioned you into a man; to deny (1) His blessing; and to claim that He will not resurrect you, or that, even if He does resurrect you, He will give you something better than your garden? Such a claim is neither proper nor fitting.

Thus, when his believing companion saw his condition and his persistence in disbelief and transgression, he declared his own position out of gratitude to his Lord and as an open proclamation of his faith when confronted by disputation and specious arguments: “But as for me, He is Allah, my Lord, and I associate no one with my Lord.” He thereby affirmed that his Lord alone possesses lordship, committed himself (2) to obeying and worshiping Him, and affirmed that he would not associate any created being with Him. He then told him that Allah’s blessing of faith and Islam upon him—even though he had little wealth and few children—was the true blessing, whereas everything else was liable to vanish and bring punishment and chastisement. He said: