38 Preface وَيَصنَعُ الفُلكَ وَكُلَّما مَرَّ عَلَيهِ مَلَأٌ مِن قَومِهِ سَخِروا مِنهُ ۚ قالَ إِن تَسخَروا مِنّا فَإِنّا نَسخَرُ مِنكُم كَما تَسخَرونَYusuf AliForthwith he (starts) constructing the Ark: Every time that the chiefs of his people passed by him, they threw ridicule on him.1 He said: “If ye ridicule us now, we (in our turn) can look down on you with ridicule likewise!2The ridicule of the sinners, from their own point of view, was natural. Here was a preacher turned carpenter! Here was a plain in the higher reaches of the Mesopotamian basin, drained by the majestic Tigris, over 800 to 900 miles from the sea (the Persian Gulf) in a straight line! Yet he talks of a flood like the Sea! All material civilisations pride themselves on their Public Works and their drainage schemes. And here was a fellow relying on God! But did not their narrow pride seem ridiculous also to the Prophet of God! Here were men steeped in sin and insolence! And they pit themselves against the power and the promise of God! I Truly a contemptible race is man!The Arabic Aorist may be construed either by the present tense or the future tense, and both make good sense here. Following Zamakhshari, I construe in the present tense, because the future is so tragic for the sinners. For the time being the worldly ones looked down on the Believers as they always do; but the Believers relied on God, and pitied their critics for knowing no better!-for their arrogance was really ridiculous.