6 Preface كَلّا إِنَّ الإِنسانَ لَيَطغىٰYusuf AliDay, but man doth transgress all bounds,1All our knowledge and capacities come as gifts from God. But man, in his inordinate vanity and insolence, mistakes God’s gifts for his own achievements. The gifts may be strength or beauty, wealth, position, or power, or the more subtle gifts of knowledge or talents in individuals,—or Science, or Art, or Government, or Organisation for mankind in general.