O believers, do not stray from the path of God, and be with those who are truthful. 119 It did not befit the people of Medinah and the people of the villages around them, to stay behind the Noble Messenger of Allah, nor to consider their own lives dearer than his life; that is because the thirst or the pain or the hunger that afflicts them in Allah's cause, and the step they tread on a place that angers the disbelievers, and whatever harm they cause the enemy – a good deed is recorded for them in lieu of all of these; indeed Allah does not waste the wages of the virtuous. 120 And whatever they spend, small or great, or any valley they cross – it is all recorded for them, so that Allah may reward them for their best deeds. 121 ۞ It is not right that all the believers should go out [in time of war] all together. Why, then, does not a party from every group come to [the Prophet] in order to acquire a deeper knowledge of religion and to warn their people, so that they can guard themselves against evil? 122