9 Preface وَأَنّا كُنّا نَقعُدُ مِنها مَقاعِدَ لِلسَّمعِ ۖ فَمَن يَستَمِعِ الآنَ يَجِد لَهُ شِهابًا رَصَدًاYusuf Ali?We used, indeed, to sit there in (hidden) stations, to (steal) a hearing; but any who listen now1 will find a flaming fire watching him in ambush.What is the force of “now"? It refers to the early Meccan period of Revelation. It means that whatever excuse there may have been before, for people to try to seek out the hidden truths of the Unseen World through spirits, there was none now, as the perspicuous Qur-ān had restored the Message of Unity and cleared religion of all the cobwebs, mysteries, and falsehoods with which priestcraft and pious fraud had overlaid it. The result is that such seekers after false hidden knowledge will find themselves confronted now by the flaming fire of the Qur* an, which, like the shafts of meteoric light (see last note), will lie in wait for and nip such priestcraft and black magic in the bud.