And those with excuses among the bedouins came to be permitted [to remain], and they who had lied to Allah and His Messenger sat [at home]. There will strike those who disbelieved among them a painful punishment. 90 No blame will attach to the old and the sick, or those without means to spend on good acts, if they stay behind provided they are sincere to God and His Apostle; There is no way to blame those who are doers of good, for God is forgiving and kind. 91 Nor [is there blame] upon those who, when they came to you that you might give them mounts, you said, "I can find nothing for you to ride upon." They turned back while their eyes overflowed with tears out of grief that they could not find something to spend [for the cause of Allah]. 92 ۞ The blameworthy ones are those who ask for exemption despite their ability and who preferred to stay at home with those who are truly exempt. God has placed a seal on their hearts but they do not know. 93 When you return, they will apologize to you. Say: 'Make no excuses; we will not believe you. Allah has already told us of your news. Surely, Allah and His Messenger will see your work; then you will be returned to the Knower of the unseen and the visible, and He will inform you of what you were doing' 94 When you will have returned to them, [O believers,] they will swear to you by God, [repeating their excuses,] with a view to your letting them be. Let them be, then: behold, they are loathsome, and hell is their goal in recompense for what they were wont to do. 95 They swear unto you, that ye may accept them. Though ye accept them. Allah verily accepteth not wrongdoing folk. 96 The desert dwelling Arabs are far worse than the others in their disbelief and hypocrisy and have more reason to be ignorant of the revelations that God revealed to His Messenger. God is All-knowing and All-wise. 97 And some of the ignorant are those who when spending in Allah's cause consider it a ransom, and await the coming of the cycles (of misfortunes) upon you; upon them only is the evil cycle of misfortune; and Allah is All Hearing, All Knowing. 98 There are also those among them who believe in God and the Last Day and regard what they spend for the cause of God as a means of bringing them nearer to God and of deserving the prayers of the Messenger. This shall certainly be for them a means of drawing near to God. God will admit them into His mercy; God is indeed most forgiving and merciful. 99