15 Preface يا أَهلَ الكِتابِ قَد جاءَكُم رَسولُنا يُبَيِّنُ لَكُم كَثيرًا مِمّا كُنتُم تُخفونَ مِنَ الكِتابِ وَيَعفو عَن كَثيرٍ ۚ قَد جاءَكُم مِنَ اللَّهِ نورٌ وَكِتابٌ مُبينٌYusuf AliO people of the Book! There hath come to you our Messenger, revealing to you much that ye used to hide in the Book, and passing over much (that is now unnecessary). There hath come to you from God a (new) light and a perspicuous Book,-1Mubin: I wish I could translate by a simpler word than “perspicuous”. But “plain” may mean unadorned, the opposite of beautiful, and this Book is among the most beautiful that it is the privilege of mankind to read. “Clear” would be right as far as it means “unambiguous, self-evident, not involved in mysteries of origin, history, or meaning, one which everyone can understand as to the essentials necessary for him, without the intervention of priests or privileged persons”. Mubin has all these meanings, but it suggests, besides, some quality of a shining light, by which we are able to make things clear, to distinguish the true from the false. This I think is suggested better by “perspicuous” than by the word “clear”. Besides it is hardly good idiom to speak of “a clear Book”, (Cf. 7:183 and 12:1).