16 Preface قُل لَو شاءَ اللَّهُ ما تَلَوتُهُ عَلَيكُم وَلا أَدراكُم بِهِ ۖ فَقَد لَبِثتُ فيكُم عُمُرًا مِن قَبلِهِ ۚ أَفَلا تَعقِلونَYusuf AliSay: “If God had so willed, I should not have rehearsed it to you, nor would He have made it known to you.1 A whole life-time before this have I tarried amongst you: will ye not then understand?”2It is in God’s Plan that He should reveal Himself in certain ways to His creatures, and His Messengers are the instruments that carry out His Will. It is in itself gracious Mercy that He should thus make His Will known. We should be grateful for His guidance instead of carping at it.Muḥammad al Muṣṭafā had lived his whole life of purity and virtue amongst his people, and they knew and acknowledged it before he received his mission. They knew he loved his nation and was loyal to it, Why should they turn against him when he had to point out under inspiration all their sins and wrongdoing? It was for their own good. And he had to plead again and again with them: “Will you not understand, Kind see what a glorious privilege it is for you to receive true guidance from God?”