90 Preface يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ آمَنوا إِنَّمَا الخَمرُ وَالمَيسِرُ وَالأَنصابُ وَالأَزلامُ رِجسٌ مِن عَمَلِ الشَّيطانِ فَاجتَنِبوهُ لَعَلَّكُم تُفلِحونَYusuf AliO ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling,1 (dedication of) stones,2 and (divination by) arrows,3 are an abomination,- of Satan?s handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.Cf. 2:219, and notes 240 and 241.Cf. 5:3. The stones there referred to were stone altars or stone columns on which oil was poured for consecration, or slabs on which meat was sacrificed to idols. Any idolatrous or superstitious practices are here condemned. The ansab were objects of worship, and were common in Arabia before Islam. See Renan, “History of Israel”, Chapter 4 and Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, Part I. p. 154: Illustrations Nos. 123 and 123 bis are Phoenician columns of that kind, found in Malta.Cf. 5:3. The arrows there referred to were used for the division of meat by sort of lottery or raffle. But arrows were also used for divination, i.e., for ascertaining lucky or unlucky moments, or learning the wishes of the heathen gods, as to whether men should undertake certain actions or not. All superstitions are condemned.