10 Preface وَالأَرضَ وَضَعَها لِلأَنامِYusuf AliIt is He Who has spread out the earth1 for (His) creatures:How can God’s favours be counted? Look at the earth alone. Life and the conditions here are mutually balanced for God’s creatures. The vegetable world produces fruit of various kinds and corn or grain of various kinds for human food. The grain harvest yields with it fodder for animals in the shape of leaves and straw, as well as food for men in the shape of grain. The plants not only supply food but sweet-smelling herbs and flowers. Rayhan is the sweet basil, but is here used in the generic sense, for agreeable produce in the vegetable world, to match the useful produce already mentioned.