O Ye who believe: expend of that which We have provided you ere the Day cometh wherein there will be neither bargain nor friendship nor intercession. And the infidels - they are the wrong-doers. 254 Allah, there is no god except He, the Living, the Everlasting. Neither dozing, nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. Who is he that shall intercede with Him except by His permission! He knows what will be before their hands and what was behind them, and they do not comprehend anything of His Knowledge except what He willed. His Seat embraces the heavens and the earth, and the preserving of them does not weary Him. He is the High, the Great. 255 There is no compulsion at all in religion; undoubtedly the right path has become very distinct from error; and whoever rejects faith in the devil (false deities) and believes in Allah has grasped a very firm handhold; it will never loosen; and Allah is All Hearing, All Knowing. 256 God is the Protector of the believers; He brings them forth from the shadows into the light. And the unbelievers -- their protectors are idols, that bring them forth from the light into the shadows; those are the inhabitants of the Fire, therein dwelling forever. 257