6 Preface قُل يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ هادوا إِن زَعَمتُم أَنَّكُم أَولِياءُ لِلَّهِ مِن دونِ النّاسِ فَتَمَنَّوُا المَوتَ إِن كُنتُم صادِقينَYusuf AliSay: “O ye that stand on Judaism!1 If ye think that ye are friends to God, to the exclusion of (other) men, then express your desire for Death, if ye are truthful!”2Standing on Judaism is a very different thing from following the Law and Will of God. An arrogant claim to be a chosen people, to be the exclusive possessors of divine teaching, to be exempt from any punishment for breaches of the divine law, (Cf. 2:88), is presumptuous blasphemy. It may be Judaism, but it is not in the spirit of Moses.Cf. 2:94-96. If they claimed to be special friends of God, why do they not eagerly desire death, which would bring them nearer to God? But of all people, they are the most tenacious of this life and the good things of this life! And they know that their grasping selfish lives have run up a score of sin against them, which will meet its recompense.