21 Preface أَمَّن هٰذَا الَّذي يَرزُقُكُم إِن أَمسَكَ رِزقَهُ ۚ بَل لَجّوا في عُتُوٍّ وَنُفورٍYusuf AliOr who is there that can provide you1 with Sustenance if He were to withhold His provision? Nay, they obstinately persist in insolent impiety and flight (from the Truth).“Sustenance” here, as elsewhere, (e.g., in 16:73, n. 2105), refers to all that is necessary to sustain and develop life in all its phases, spiritual and mental, as well as physical. God Most Gracious is the Source of all our Sustenance, and if we persist in looking to Vanities for our Sustenance, we are pursuing a mirage, and, if we examine the matter, we are only following obstinate impulses of rebellion and impiety.