118 Preface وَلَو شاءَ رَبُّكَ لَجَعَلَ النّاسَ أُمَّةً واحِدَةً ۖ وَلا يَزالونَ مُختَلِفينَYusuf AliIf thy Lord had so willed, He could have made mankind1 one people: but they will not cease to dispute. Cf. 10:19. All mankind might have been one. But in God’s Plan man was to have a certain measure of free will, and this made differences inevitable. This would not have mattered if all had honestly sought God. But selfishness and moral wrong came in, and people’s disputations became mixed up with hatred, jealousy, and sin, except in the case of those who accepted God’s grace, which saved them. The object of their creation was to raise them up spiritually by God’s grace. But if they will choose the path of evil and fall into sin, God’s decree must be fulfilled, and His justice will take its course. In the course of that justice Hell will be filled with men and spirits, such is the number of those who go astray.