27 Preface لا يَسبِقونَهُ بِالقَولِ وَهُم بِأَمرِهِ يَعمَلونَYusuf AliThey speak not before1 He speaks, and they act (in all things) by His Command.They never say anything before they receive God’s command to say it, and their acts are similarly conditioned. This is also the teaching of Jesus as reported in the Gospel of St. John (12:49-50): “For I have not spoken of myself: but the Father which sent me. He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And 1 know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so 1 speak.” If rightly understood, “Father” has the same meaning as our “Rabb”, Sustainer and Cherisher, not Begetter or Progenitor.