22 Preface وَلَمّا تَوَجَّهَ تِلقاءَ مَديَنَ قالَ عَسىٰ رَبّي أَن يَهدِيَني سَواءَ السَّبيلِYusuf AliThen, when he turned his face towards (the land of) Madyan,1 he said: “I do hope that my Lord will show me the smooth and straight Path.”East of Lower Egypt, for about 300 miles, runs the Sinai Peninsula, bounded on the south by the Gulf of Suez, and on the north by what was the Isthmus of Suez, now cut by the Suez Canal. Over the Isthmus ran the highroad to Palestine and Syria, but a fugitive could not well take that road, as the Egyptians were after him. If he could, after crossing the Isthmus, plunge into the Sinai desert, east or southeast, he would be in the Midianite territory, where the people would be Arabs and not Egyptians. He turned thither, and again prayed to God for guidance.