those who came with the slander were a number of you. Do not regard it evil for you, rather it is good for you. Every person of them shall have the sin that he has earned charged to him. As for he who took upon himself the greater part there is a mightier punishment. 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 do they not [demand of the accusers that they] produce four witnesses to prove their allegation? for, if they do not produce such witnesses, it is those [accusers] who, in the sight of God, are liars indeed! 13 Had it not been for the grace of Allah and His mercy unto you in the world and the Hereafter an awful doom had overtaken you for that whereof ye murmured. 14 You carried with your tongues and uttered with your mouths what you did not know. You have thought it a trifle, but before Allah it was a mighty thing. 15 And why did ye not, when ye heard it, say? - "It is not right of us to speak of this: Glory to Allah! this is a most serious slander!" 16 Allah exhorts you never again to repeat the like, if you are believers. 17 God explains His commands to you clearly, for God is all-knowing and all-wise. 18 Those who love that indecency should be broadcast about those who believe theirs is a painful punishment in this world and in the Everlasting Life. Allah knows, and you do not know. 19 Were it not for the grace and mercy of Allah on you, and that Allah is full of kindness and mercy, (ye would be ruined indeed). 20