69 Preface وَمَن يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَالرَّسولَ فَأُولٰئِكَ مَعَ الَّذينَ أَنعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيهِم مِنَ النَّبِيّينَ وَالصِّدّيقينَ وَالشُّهَداءِ وَالصّالِحينَ ۚ وَحَسُنَ أُولٰئِكَ رَفيقًاYusuf AliAll who obey God and the messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of God,- of the prophets (who teach), the sincere (lovers of Truth), the witnesses (who testify), and the Righteous (who do good): Ah! what a beautiful Fellowship!1A passage of the deepest spiritual meaning. Even the humblest man who accepts Faith and does good becomes at once an accepted member of a great and beautiful spiritual Fellowship. It is a company which lives perpetually in the sunshine of God’s Grace. (This passage partly illustrates 1:5). It is a glorious hierarchy, of which four grades are specified: (1) The highest is that of the Prophets or Apostles, who get plenary inspiration from God, and who teach mankind by example and precept. That rank in Islam is held by Muḥammad Muṣṭafā. (2) The next are those whose badge is sincerity and truth; they love and support the truth with their person, their means, their influence, and all that is theirs. That rank was held by the special companions of Muḥammad, among whom the type was that of Abū Bakr Siddiq. (3) The next are the noble army of Witnesses, who testify to the truth. The testimony may be by martyrdom, as in the case of Imāms Ḥasan and Ḥusain. Or it may be by the tongue of the true preacher or the pen of the devoted scholar, or the life of the man devoted to service. (4) Lastly, there is the large company of righteous people, the ordinary folk who do their ordinary business, but always in a righteous way. They are the rank and file of the beautiful Fellowship, in which each has his place and yet all feel that they derive glory from the common association, (Cf. 29:9). (R).