82 Preface ۞ وَإِذا وَقَعَ القَولُ عَلَيهِم أَخرَجنا لَهُم دابَّةً مِنَ الأَرضِ تُكَلِّمُهُم أَنَّ النّاسَ كانوا بِآياتِنا لا يوقِنونَYusuf AliAnd when the Word is1 fulfilled against them (the unjust), we shall produce from the earth a beast to (face) them:2 He will speak to them, for that mankind did not believe with assurance in Our Signs.The Word: the Decree or Sentence, the Decision to end the respite and restore the true values of right and wrong in a new world: their cup of iniquity will then have been full.The Beast will be one of the Signs of the Last Day to come, before the present World passes away and the new World is brought into being. In symbolic language it would represent gross Materialism. It will be the embodiment of fat worldly triumph, which will appeal to a misguided and degenerate world, because such a corrupt world will have no assured belief in the Signs of God or in spiritual Light. It will itself be a Sign or Portent, closing the door of repentance. I do not know whether this Beast has any reference to the symbolism in chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation, which closes the New Testament. If taklimuhum is read instead of tukallimuhum, it would mean that the Beast would wound them, symbolically, that Materialism would produce its own Nemesis.