15 Preface إِنّا كاشِفُو العَذابِ قَليلًا ۚ إِنَّكُم عائِدونَYusuf AliWe shall indeed remove1 the Penalty for a while, (but) truly ye will revert (to your ways).God gives every chance to all His creatures, however rebellious. He gives them a little trial, perhaps personal, perhaps economic, to see if that would bring them to their bearings, and train their will in the right direction. Some are thus reclaimed, and some do not learn. Perhaps, for the latter, He gives them a chance by removing the trial; some are reclaimed, and some still remain obdurate. And so, in His wisdom, He allows His grace to work, again and again, until, at the last, Judgment must seize the last and irreclaimable remnant “with a mighty onslaught”. Such working of God’s Providence is clearly visible in the story of Quraish. It is a pity that the economic conditions of Mecca have not been studied in detail in any of the standard biographies of the Prophet. The so-called biographies by non- Muslims, e.g., Muir’s Life, do not even mention any Meccan famine or its reactions on Quraish mind!