43 Preface فَلَولا إِذ جاءَهُم بَأسُنا تَضَرَّعوا وَلٰكِن قَسَت قُلوبُهُم وَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيطانُ ما كانوا يَعمَلونَYusuf AliWhen the suffering reached them from us, why then did they not learn humility?1 On the contrary their hearts became hardened, and Satan made their (sinful) acts seem alluring to them.Sorrow and suffering may (if we take diem rightly) turn out to be the best gifts of God to us. According to the Psalms (94:12). “Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, O Lord!” Through suffering we learn humility, the antidote to many vices and the fountain of many virtues. But if we take them the wrong way, we grumble and complain, we become fainthearted; and Satan gets his opportunity to exploit us by putting forward the alluring pleasures of his Vanity Fair.