۞ O YOU who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in upholding equity, bearing witness to the truth for the sake of God, even though it be against your own selves or your parents and kinsfolk. Whether the person concerned be rich or poor, God's claim takes precedence over [the claims of] either of them. Do not, then, follow your own desires, lest you swerve from justice: for if you distort [the truth,] behold, God is indeed aware of all that you do! 135 O you who have attained to faith! Hold fast unto your belief in God and His Apostle, and in the divine writ which He has bestowed from on high upon His Apostle, step by step, as well as in the revelation which He sent down aforetime: for he who denies God, and His angels, and His revelations, and His apostles, and the Last Day, has indeed gone far astray. 136 Verily, those who believe, then disbelieve, then believe (again), and (again) disbelieve, and go on increasing in disbelief; Allah will not forgive them, nor guide them on the (Right) Way. 137 Give thou good tidings to the hypocrites that for them awaits a painful chastisement. 138 As for those who take the deniers of the truth for their allies rather than the believers -- do they seek honour in their company? Surely all honour belongs to God. 139 And indeed, He has enjoined upon you in this divine writ that whenever you hear people deny the truth of God's messages and mock at them, you shall avoid their company until they begin to talk of other things - or else, verily, you will become like them. Behold, together with those who deny the truth God will gather in hell the hypocrites, 140 who but wait to see what betides you: thus, if triumph comes to you from God, they say: "Were we not on your side?" - whereas if those who deny the truth are in luck, they say [to them,] "Have we not earned your affection by defending you against those believers?'' But God will judge between you all on the Day of Resurrection; and never will God allow those who deny the truth to harm the believers. 141