5 Preface بَل قالوا أَضغاثُ أَحلامٍ بَلِ افتَراهُ بَل هُوَ شاعِرٌ فَليَأتِنا بِآيَةٍ كَما أُرسِلَ الأَوَّلونَYusuf Ali“Nay,” they say, “(these are) medleys of dream! - Nay, He forged it! - Nay, He is (but) a poet!1 Let him then bring us a Sign like the ones that were sent to (Prophets) of old!”The charges against God’s inspired Messenger are heaped up “Magic!” says one: that means, “We don’t understand it!” Says another, “Oh! but we know! he is a mere dreamer of confused dreams!” If the “dreams” fit in with real things and vital experience, another will suggest, “Oh yes! why drag in supernatural agencies? he is clever enough to forge it himself!” Or another suggests, “He is a poet! Poets can invent things and say them in beautiful words!” Another interposes, “What we should like to see is miracles, like those we read of in stories of the Prophets of old!”