4 Preface قُتِلَ أَصحابُ الأُخدودِYusuf AliWoe to the makers of the pit (of fire),1Who were the makers of the pit of fire in which they burnt people for their Faith? The words are perfectly general, and we need not search for particular names, except by way of illustration. In ancient history, and in Mediæval Europe, many lives were sacrificed at the stake because the victims did not conform to the established religion. In Arab tradition there is the story of Abraham: Nimrūd tries to burn him to death, but on account of Abraham’s Faith, the fire became “a means of safety for Abraham”: 21:69, and n. second note to 21:69. Another case cited is that of Dhū Nuwas, the last Ḥimyarite King of Yemen, by religion a Jew, who persecuted the Christians of Najrān and is said to have burnt them at the stake. He seems to have lived in the latter half of the sixth Christian century, in the generation immediately preceding the Prophet’s birth in 570 A.D. While the words are perfectly general, a reference is suggested to the persecution to which the early Muslims were subjected by the Pagan Quraish. Among other cruelties, they were stripped, and their skins were exposed to the burning rays of the Arabian summer sun.