63أَتَّخَذناهُم سِخرِيًّا أَم زاغَت عَنهُمُ الأَبصارُMuhammad Asad[and] whom we made the target of our derision?1 Or is it that [they arehere, and] our eyes have missed them?"I.e., the prophets and the righteous, who - as the Qur'an points out in many places - have always been derided by people enamoured of the life of this world and, therefore, averse to all moral exhortation.