17 Preface أَوَآباؤُنَا الأَوَّلونَYusuf Ali“And also our fathers1 of old?” Although the Hereafter, and the spiritual life of which it is a corollary, are the most solid facts in our intelligent existence, materialists deny them. They cannot believe that they could have any existence beyond the grave-still less their ancestors who died ages and ages ago: how could they ever come to life again?