An-Nahl (The Bee)

71. “And Allah has made some of you excel others in the (means of) sustenance. So those who have been made to excel do not give their (means of) sustenance to those whom their right hands possess, so that they may be equal therein. Do they then deny Allah’s bounty?”

And Allah has made some of you excel in means of sustenance over others. This blessing is allocated to man by Allah and through one’s own effort, either because of his purity of soul, or for testing of others by him being made an example such as the cases of knowledge, health, and security.

However, those who have been made to excel, (owing to their own narrow-sightedness and narrow vision) are not predisposed to part with a portion of their share for the sake of their subjects so as to enable them to be on equal footing with them.

The verse says:

“And Allah has made some of you excel others in the (means of) sustenance. So those who have been made to excel do not give their (means of) sustenance to those whom their right hands possess, so that they may be equal therein…”

One may conclude that Muslims must not feel privileged or at an advantage when facing those who are in an inferior position with respect to them in their families.

Such differences in the amount of incomes have their origin in the abilities and talents of individuals which in turn are also from Allah’s gifts. In certain cases, they may be acquired in some aspects, though in other cases they are definitely not acquired.

Therefore, even in a healthy sound environment from the economics point of view, one finds widespread gaps in incomes, which is undeniable. At any rate and despite all this, what lays the main foundations of one’s successes is one’s own struggle.

People’s differences in their means of sustenance is one of the Divine wise programs, for if all people were to enjoy equal benefits, their spiritual peaks of perfection would not be demonstrated. For instance, generosity, perseverance, self-sacrifice, protection, compassion, modesty and the like usually exhibit their significance whenever there are some differences among men.

Certainly, justice does not prevail only when Allah sets up all on an equal footing from the point of view of their abilities and conditions, for if all were to enjoy an equal amount of blessings, the issues of employment and cooperation, which are required for social life, would lose sense.

Nevertheless, individual differences in talents, abilities and incomes should not result in misuse of the potentialities with regard to the social strata.

It is for this reason that He proclaims at the end of the verse that:

“…Do they then deny Allah’s bounty?”

Here, He makes an allusion to the fact that such differences in their original natural forms (and not in their artificial and oppressive sense) are also among Allah’s blessings which have been brought forth to protect the human society and for the development of their different potentialities.