2 Preface وَإِذَا الكَواكِبُ انتَثَرَتYusuf AliWhen the Stars are scattered;1Cf. 81:2, where the word for “stars” (Nujūm) is different, and the verb is different. Najm has reference to brightness, and the verb “losing their lustre” was appropriate there, to show the opposite. Kawkab (used here) has more the meaning of a star as fixed in a constellation; and the opposite of a fixed and definite order is “scattered”, the verb used here. In fact, throughout this passage, the dominating idea is the disturbance of order and symmetry. The metaphor behind the scattering of the constellations is that in the present order of things we see many things associated together, e.g., rank with honour, wealth with comfort, etc. In the new Spiritual World this will be seen to have been merely fortuitous.