26 Preface يا بَني آدَمَ قَد أَنزَلنا عَلَيكُم لِباسًا يُواري سَوآتِكُم وَريشًا ۖ وَلِباسُ التَّقوىٰ ذٰلِكَ خَيرٌ ۚ ذٰلِكَ مِن آياتِ اللَّهِ لَعَلَّهُم يَذَّكَّرونَYusuf AliO ye Children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment1 upon you to cover your shame, as well as to be an adornment to you. But the raiment of righteousness,- that is the best. Such are among the Signs of God, that they may receive admonition!There is a double philosophy of clothes here, to correspond with the double signification of verse 20 above, as explained in n. 1006. Spiritually, God created man “bare and alone” (6:94): the soul in its naked purity and beauty knew no shame because it knew no guilt: after it was touched by guilt and soiled by evil, its thoughts and deeds became its clothing and adornments, good or bad, honest or meretricious, according to the inner motives which gave them colour. So in the case of the body: it is pure and beautiful, as long as it is not defiled by misuse; its clothing and ornaments may be good or meretricious, according to the motives in the mind and character; if good, they are the symbols of purity and beauty; but the best clothing and ornament we could have comes from righteousness, which covers the nakedness of sin, and adorns us with virtues. (R).