25 Preface أَلّا يَسجُدوا لِلَّهِ الَّذي يُخرِجُ الخَبءَ فِي السَّماواتِ وَالأَرضِ وَيَعلَمُ ما تُخفونَ وَما تُعلِنونَYusuf Ali“(Kept them away from the Path), that they should not worship God, Who brings to light1 what is hidden in the heavens and the earth, and knows what ye hide and what ye reveal.The false worship of the Sabæans is here exposed in three ways: (1) that they were self-satisfied with their own human achievements, instead of looking up to God; and (2) that the light of the heavenly bodies which they worshipped was only dependent on the true Light of God, which extends over heaven and earth; the Creator should be worshipped rather than His Creation; and (3) God knows the hidden secrets of men’s minds as well as the objects which they openly profess: are false worshippers really only worshipping their own selves or the “sins they have a mind to” and are therefore afraid to go to God, Who knows all?