1 Preface تَبارَكَ الَّذي نَزَّلَ الفُرقانَ عَلىٰ عَبدِهِ لِيَكونَ لِلعالَمينَ نَذيرًاYusuf AliBlessed1 is He who sent down the Criterion2 to His servant, that it3 may be an admonition to all creatures;-Tabaraka: the root meaning is “increase” or “abundance.” Here that aspect of God’s dealing with His creatures is emphasised, which shows his abundant goodness to all His creatures, in that He sent the Revelation of His Will, not only in the unlimited Book of Nature, but in a definite Book in human language, which gives clear directions and admonitions to all. The English word “blessed” hardly conveys that meaning, but I can find no other without departing far from established usage. To emphasise the meaning I have explained, I have translated “Blessed is . . .”, but “Blessed be . . .” is also admissible, as it brings out another shade of meaning, that we praise and bless His Holy Name.That by which we can judge clearly between right and wrong. Here the reference is to the Qur-ān, which has already been symbolised by Light This symbol is continued here, and many contrasts are shown, in the midst of which we can distinguish between the true and false by God’s Light, especially the contrast between righteousness and sin.The pronoun in yakuna may refer to Furqan (the Criterion) or the 'Abd (the Holy Prophet). In either case the ultimate meaning is the same. The Qur-ān is the standing Criterion for judgment between right and wrong.