An-Nahl • EN-TAFSIR-MAARIF-UL-QURAN
﴿ ۞ ضَرَبَ ٱللَّهُ مَثَلًا عَبْدًۭا مَّمْلُوكًۭا لَّا يَقْدِرُ عَلَىٰ شَىْءٍۢ وَمَن رَّزَقْنَٰهُ مِنَّا رِزْقًا حَسَنًۭا فَهُوَ يُنفِقُ مِنْهُ سِرًّۭا وَجَهْرًا ۖ هَلْ يَسْتَوُۥنَ ۚ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ۚ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ﴾
“God propounds [to you] the parable of [two men-] a man enslaved, unable to do anything of his own accord, and a [free] man upon whom We have bestowed goodly sustenance [as a gift] from Ourselves, so that he can spend thereof [at will, both] secretly and openly. Can these [two] be deemed equal? All praise is due to God [alone]: but most of them do not understand it.”
In the first of the two examples given in the last two verses, the description is that of a master and a slave, that is, the owner and the owned. By giving this example, it is being said: When these two, despite being from the same genus and the same kind, cannot be equal to each other, how then could you equate someone or something created by Allah with Him?