27 Preface وَيَومَ يَعَضُّ الظّالِمُ عَلىٰ يَدَيهِ يَقولُ يا لَيتَنِي اتَّخَذتُ مَعَ الرَّسولِ سَبيلًاYusuf AliThe Day that the wrong-doer will bite at his hands, he will say, “Oh! would that I had taken a (straight) path with the Messenger!1The words are general, and for us the interest is in a general sense. A man who actually receives the Truth and is on the right path is all the more culpable if he is diverted from that path by the machinations of a worldly friend. The particular person whom some Commentators mention in this connection was one 'Uqbah who received the light of Islam, but was misled afterwards by a worldly friend into apostasy and blasphemy. He came to an evil end afterwards.