28 Preface ۞ أَلَم تَرَ إِلَى الَّذينَ بَدَّلوا نِعمَتَ اللَّهِ كُفرًا وَأَحَلّوا قَومَهُم دارَ البَوارِYusuf AliHast thou not turned thy vision to those who1 have changed the favour of God. Into blasphemy and caused their people to descend to the House of Perdition?-There is a particular and a general meaning. The particular meaning is understood to be a reference to the Meccan Pagans who turned the House of God into a place for the worship of horrible idols and the practice of unseemly rites and cults. There is no real difficulty in accepting this as part of a late Meccan Sūra even without supposing it to be a prophecy. The Meccan Pagans had turned Religion into a blasphemous superstition, and were misguiding their people, persecuting the true Messenger of God and all who followed his teaching. Their cup of iniquity seemed about full, and they seemed to be heading to perdition, as later events indeed showed to be the case. The general meaning is also clear. Selfish men, when they seize power, want worship for themselves or their Phantasies, in derogation of the true God. Power, which should have been an instrument of good, becomes in their hands an instrument of evil. They and their people rush headlong to perdition. “These be thy gods, 0 Israel” has been a cry repeated again and again in history, in the face, or at the back, of men of God!