26يُريدُ اللَّهُ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَكُم وَيَهدِيَكُم سُنَنَ الَّذينَ مِن قَبلِكُم وَيَتوبَ عَلَيكُم ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَليمٌ حَكيمٌMuhammad AsadGod wants to make [all this] clear unto you, and to guide you onto the [righteous] ways of life of those who preceded you,1 and to turn unto you in His mercy: for God is all-knowing, wise.An allusion to the genuine religious teachings of the past, which aimed at bringing about a harmony between man's physical nature and the demands of his spirit - a harmony which is destroyed whenever asceticism is postulated as the only possible alternative to licentiousness (see also note on surah 2, verse 143). This allusion arises from the discussion of sexual morality in the preceding passages devoted to marital relations.