16 Preface وَعَلاماتٍ ۚ وَبِالنَّجمِ هُم يَهتَدونَYusuf AliAnd marks and sign-posts; and by the stars (men) guide themselves.1See last note. Let us examine the completed allegory. As there are beacons, landmarks and signs to show the way to men on the earth, so in the spiritual world. And it is ultimately God Who provides them, and this is His crowning Mercy. Like the mountains, there are spiritual landmarks in the missions of the Great Teachers: they should guide us, or teach us to guide ourselves, and not shake hither and thither like a ship without a rudder or people without Faith. As rivers and streams mark out their channels, smoothing out levels, so we have wholesome laws and customs established, to help us in our lives. Then we have the example of Great Men as further signposts: “Lives of great men all remind us. We can make our lives sublime.” In long distance travel, the polestar and the magnetic needle are our guides: so in our long distance journey to the other world, we have ultimately to look to heavenly guidance or its reflections in God’s Revelations.