6 Preface وَمِنَ النّاسِ مَن يَشتَري لَهوَ الحَديثِ لِيُضِلَّ عَن سَبيلِ اللَّهِ بِغَيرِ عِلمٍ وَيَتَّخِذَها هُزُوًا ۚ أُولٰئِكَ لَهُم عَذابٌ مُهينٌYusuf AliBut there are, among men, those who purchase idle tales,1 without knowledge (or meaning), to mislead (men) from the Path of God and throw ridicule (on the Path): for such there will be a Humiliating Penalty.Life is taken seriously by men who realise the issues that hang upon it. But there are men of a frivolous turn of mind who prefer idle tales to true Realities and they are justly rebuked here. In the time of the Prophet there was a pagan Nadr ibn al Harith who preferred Persian romance to the Message of God, and turned away ignorant men from the preaching of God’s Word.