O Prophet, struggle with the unbelievers and hypocrites, and be thou harsh with them; their refuge is Gehenna -- an evil homecoming! 73 They swear by God that they did not, yet they uttered the words of denial of truth after they had accepted Islam. They meditated a plot which they were unable to carry out, and being spiteful was their only response to God, who had enriched them out of His bounty, and to His Messenger. If they repent, it will indeed be better for them. If they turn away, God will punish them with grievous suffering in this world and the Hereafter, and there will be no one on earth to protect or help them. 74 ۞ And of them are some who covenanted with Allah saying: if He giveth us of His grace, we will surely give alms and we will surely become of the righteous. 75 But when he gave them from His bounty, they were stingy with it and turned away while they refused. 76 So He chastised them with setting hypocrisy in their hearts until the Day they shall meet Him, because they kept back from Allah that which they had promised Him, and because they were wont to lie. 77 Have they not realised that God knows their secrets and their confidential talk, and that God has the knowledge of unknown things? 78 They who taunt those of the faithful who give their alms freely, and those who give to the extent of their earnings and scoff at them; Allah will pay them back their scoffing, and they shall have a painful chastisement. 79 Whether you (O dear Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) ask forgiveness for them* or not ask forgiveness for them; even if you ask forgiveness for them seventy times, Allah will not forgive them; that is because they disbelieved in Allah and His Noble Messenger, and Allah does not guide the sinful. (* for the hypocrites.) 80