101 Preface وَلَمّا جاءَهُم رَسولٌ مِن عِندِ اللَّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ لِما مَعَهُم نَبَذَ فَريقٌ مِنَ الَّذينَ أوتُوا الكِتابَ كِتابَ اللَّهِ وَراءَ ظُهورِهِم كَأَنَّهُم لا يَعلَمونَYusuf AliAnd when there came to them a messenger from God, confirming what was with them, a party of the people of the Book threw away the Book of God1 behind their backs, as if (it had been something) they did not know! I think that by “the Book of God” here is meant, not the Qur-ān, but the Book which the People of the Book had been given, viz., the previous Revelations. The argument is that Muḥammad’s Message was similar to Revelations which they had already received, and if they had looked into their own Books honestly and sincerely, they would have found proofs in them to show that the new Message was true and from God. But they ignored their own Books or twisted or distorted them according to their own fancies. Worse, they followed something which was actually false and mischievous and inspired by the evil one. Such was the belief in magic and sorcery. These are described in the next verse in terms referring to the beliefs and practices of the “People of the Book.” (Cf. 3:187).