Al-`Awfi reported that Ibn `Abbas said: "This is the example which Allah gives of the disbeliever and the believer.'' This was also the view of Qatadah and Ibn Jarir. The servant who has no power over anything is like the disbeliever, and the one who is given good provisions and spends of them secretly and openly is like the believer. Ibn Abi Najih reported that Mujahid said: "This is an example given of the idol and the True God - can they be the same'' Once the difference between them is so clear and so obvious, no one can be unaware of it except the one who is foolish. Allah says:

﴿الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ﴾

(All the praises and thanks are to Allah. Nay! (But) most of them know not.)

﴿وَضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلاً رَّجُلَيْنِ أَحَدُهُمَآ أَبْكَمُ لاَ يَقْدِرُ عَلَى شَىْءٍ وَهُوَ كَلٌّ عَلَى مَوْلاهُ أَيْنَمَا يُوَجِّههُّ لاَ يَأْتِ بِخَيْرٍ هَلْ يَسْتَوِى هُوَ وَمَن يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَهُوَ عَلَى صِرَطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ ﴾

(76. And Allah gives an example of two men, one of them dumb, who has no power over anything, and he is a burden on his master; whichever way he directs him, he brings no good. Is such a man equal to one who commands justice, and is himself on the straight path)