42 Preface وَأَقسَموا بِاللَّهِ جَهدَ أَيمانِهِم لَئِن جاءَهُم نَذيرٌ لَيَكونُنَّ أَهدىٰ مِن إِحدَى الأُمَمِ ۖ فَلَمّا جاءَهُم نَذيرٌ ما زادَهُم إِلّا نُفورًاYusuf AliThey swore their strongest oaths by God that if a warner came to them, they would follow his guidance better1 than any (other) of the Peoples: But when a warner came to them, it has only increased their flight (from righteousness),-Cf. 6:157. In the first instance this referred to the Quraish. Their attitude to the People of the Book had been one of lofty superiority or of insincere excuses. They twitted the Jews and Christians with deviating from their own lights and their own revelations; and for themselves, they said they had received no direct revelation from God, or they would have shown themselves the most amenable to discipline, the most ready to follow God’s Law. This was before the Prophet received his mission from God. When he received it and announced it, they turned away from it. They fled from it and put a greater and greater distance between it and themselves. But this is the way of all sinners. They find much to carp at in others, and much to excuse in themselves. But when all grounds for excuse are removed, they will be found, not nearer, but farther and farther away from truth and righteousness.