2 Preface فَالعاصِفاتِ عَصفًاYusuf AliWhich then blow violently in tempestuous Gusts,1If we understand the reference to be, not to Winds, but to Angels, they are agencies in the spiritual world, which carry out similar functions, changing and revolutionising the face of the world. (1) They come softly, on beneficent errands of Mercy; (2) they are charged with the mission of punishment and destruction for sin as in the case of the two angels who came to Lut (15:57-66); (3) they distribute God’s Mercies as the Winds distribute good seeds; (4) they sort out the good from the evil among men; and (5) they are the agency through which God’s Messages and Revelations are conveyed to the Prophets (see No. 5 in the last note).