23 Preface وَلَقَد آتَينا موسَى الكِتابَ فَلا تَكُن في مِريَةٍ مِن لِقائِهِ ۖ وَجَعَلناهُ هُدًى لِبَني إِسرائيلَYusuf AliWe did indeed aforetime give the Book to Moses:1 be not then in doubt of its reaching (thee):2 and We made it a guide to the Children of Israel.The Book is not here co-extensive with Revelation. Moses had, revealed to him, a Law, a shari'ah, which was to guide his people in all the practical affairs of their life. Jesus, after him, was also inspired by God: but his Injil or Gospel contained only general principles and not a Code or shari'ah. The Prophet was the next one to have a shan'ah or “Book” in that sense: for the Qur-ān contains both a Code and general principles. This Sūra is a Meccan Sūra. The Code came later in Medīna. But he is given the assurance that he will also have a Code, to supersede the earlier Law, and complete the Revelation of God.Its reaching (thee): liqa'ihi Commentators differ as to the construction of the pronoun hi, which may be translated either “its” or “his”. I construe it to refer to “the Book”, as that gives the most natural meaning, as explained in the last note.