وَاللَّهُ جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا وَجَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَزْوَاجِكُم بَنِينَ وَحَفَدَةً وَرَزَقَكُم مِّنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ ۚ أَفَبِالْبَاطِلِ يُؤْمِنُونَ وَبِنِعْمَتِ اللَّهِ هُمْ يَكْفُرُونَ (72)
(16:72) It is Allah alone, Who has made wives for you from your own species and He alone bestowed upon you sons and grandsons from those wives, and provided you with good things to eat. What, do they then (even after seeing and knowing all this,) believe in falsehood, *63 and deny Allah's favours *64
*63) " .... they believe in falsehood ......": they have this false and baseless belief that there are certain gods and goddesses, jinns and saints, dead and alive, who possess the power to make or mar their fates, fulfil their desires and answer their prayers, give them children, cure their diseases and help them win law suits.
*64) " .... they deny Allah's favours" by associating others with Allah in offering gratitude to Him for His favours, though they did not have any proof or authority that their false gods had played any part in regard to those favours. The Qur'an considers such an association to be the denial of Allah's favours. It puts forward the fundamental principle: It is the denial of the favour of the real benefactor to offer gratitude for his favour to anyone who has not done that favour, or to presume without any proof or reason that the real benefactor has nor granted that favour of his own accord but because of the mediation or regard or recommendation or intercession of this or that person.
Even a little thinking will show that both of the above-mentioned fundamental things are absolutely just and rational. Let us suppose, for the sake of illustration, that A, out of sympathy, helps B, a needy person, but at that very moment B stands up in A's presence, and offers gratitude for that kind act to another person who -had no share at aII in it. A being a generous person may not take any notice of B's absurd response, and may even continue to help him as before, but he cannot help having a very low opinion of B character and considering him to be an ungrateful wretch. Then on inquiry Breveals that he was grateful to the other person for A had done that kindness to B because of him. Naturally A will take it ill, for he knows that B's assumption is absolutely wrong: nay, he will take this as an insult to himself because it meant that B has a very low opinion of him that he is not a generous and kind-hearted man but merely does such deeds to please his friends. It means that A helps a needy person only if he brings recommendation of his friends; otherwise none can expect any goodness from him.