Lo! they who spread the slander are a gang among you. Deem it not a bad thing for you; nay, it is good for you. Unto every man of them (will be paid) that which he hath earned of the sin; and as for him among them who had the greater share therein, his will be an awful doom. 11 Would that on your hearing this report, the believing men and women among you had a favorable attitude towards it, and had said, "This report is clearly false". 12 Why did they [who slandered] not produce for it four witnesses? And when they do not produce the witnesses, then it is they, in the sight of Allah, who are the liars. 13 Had it not been for the Grace of Allah and His Mercy unto you in this world and in the Hereafter, a great torment would have touched you for that whereof you had spoken. 14 When you were spreading it with your tongues and saying with your mouths things of which you had no knowledge, you considered it to be a trivial matter, but, in God's sight, it was very serious. 15 Why did you not say when you heard it: "It is not for us to speak of it? God preserve us, it is a great calumny!" 16 God warns you never to repeat the like of it again, if you are true believers. 17 Allah makes plain to you His verses, and Allah is the Knower, the Wise. 18 Indeed those who wish that slander should spread among the Muslims – for them is a painful punishment in this world and in the Hereafter; and Allah knows, and you do not know. 19 If it was not for the bounty of Allah to you and His Mercy, and Allah is the Gentle, the Most Merciful. 20