secrets. Obviously, in both verses, it is the kāhins of Arabia, the diviners and soothsayers, that are spoken of. The soothsayer’s occasional snatching and his stealthy hearing refer only to his conjecture sometimes coming true, the visible flame which follows meaning the subsequent failure and disappointment due to the advent of Islām, which destroyed the whole effect of the soothsayer’s pretensions. The description of spiritual truths in terms of physical laws which are prevalent in the world is of common occurrence in the Holy Qur’ān; and it is a fact that the darkness of superstition — and the office of the kāhin or the soothsayer was undoubtedly a superstition — was completely dispelled by the light of Islām, so that Islām may be said literally to have proved a flame of fire for the chaff of soothsaying and divination.