36 Preface فَلَمّا جاءَهُم موسىٰ بِآياتِنا بَيِّناتٍ قالوا ما هٰذا إِلّا سِحرٌ مُفتَرًى وَما سَمِعنا بِهٰذا في آبائِنَا الأَوَّلينَYusuf AliWhen Moses came to them with Our clear signs, they said: “This is nothing but sorcery1 faked up: never did we head the like among our fathers of old!”2This is what Moses was thinking of when he had said: “They may accuse me of falsehood”. To accuse the purest Truth of lying is a favourite trick of those whose chief stock in trade is deception and sorcery and catching the attention of the vulgar by arts adapted to their ignorant minds!'As to this higher talk of the worship of the One true God, why, our ancestors have worshipped power and patronage, as concentrated in Pharaoh, from the most ancient times!'