83 Preface فَلَمّا جاءَتهُم رُسُلُهُم بِالبَيِّناتِ فَرِحوا بِما عِندَهُم مِنَ العِلمِ وَحاقَ بِهِم ما كانوا بِهِ يَستَهزِئونَYusuf AliFor when their messengers came to them with Clear Signs, they exulted1 in such knowledge (and skill) as they had; but that very (Wrath) at which2 they were wont to scoff hemmed them in.Arrogance and an exaggerated idea of Self were at the bottom of the Evil to which they succumbed (Cf. n. 4350).Cf. 16:34. Nothing could stop the Justice of God punishing Evil. What they had ridiculed came as an inexorable fact. None of their grandeur or art or science or skill was of any use when they lost their souls!