62 Preface قالوا يا صالِحُ قَد كُنتَ فينا مَرجُوًّا قَبلَ هٰذا ۖ أَتَنهانا أَن نَعبُدَ ما يَعبُدُ آباؤُنا وَإِنَّنا لَفي شَكٍّ مِمّا تَدعونا إِلَيهِ مُريبٍYusuf AliThey said: “O Ṣālih! thou hast been of us! a centre of our hopes1 hitherto! dost thou (now) forbid us the worship of what our fathers worshipped? But we are really in suspicious (disquieting) doubt as to that to which thou invitest us.”Ṣālih’s life with his people had been so righteous (like that of al Amin in later times) that he might have been chosen leader or king if he had only conformed to their superstitions and supported their sins. But he was born for a higher mission? that of a preacher of truth and righteousness and an ardent opponent of selfish privilege and a champion of the rights of humanity on God’s free earth by the symbol of the she-camel: see n. 1044 to 7:73.