95 Preface قُل لَو كانَ فِي الأَرضِ مَلائِكَةٌ يَمشونَ مُطمَئِنّينَ لَنَزَّلنا عَلَيهِم مِنَ السَّماءِ مَلَكًا رَسولًاYusuf AliSay, “If there were settled, on earth, angels walking about1 in peace and quiet, We should certainly have sent them down from the heavens an angel for a messenger.”The argument is that if the angels inhabited this earth, an angel from heaven could be sent down as a messenger to them, as they could mutually understand each other, and the Message of God could be explained without difficulty. But the earth is inhabited by men, and the men themselves are divided into races, or groups, or nations. To each group is sent a prophet from among their brethren: to ‘Ād. their brother Hud (11:50); to Thamūd, their brother Ṣālih (11:61); and so on. As a matter of fact, with wicked men, constituted as they are, the appearance of an angel causes disturbance and an unseemly riot, as in the case of the angels that came to Lot (11:77-80). In any case they cannot carry out an effective mission among men (6:8-9).