O YOU who have attained to faith! No men shall deride [other] men: it may well be that those [whom they deride] are better than themselves; and no women [shall deride other] women: it may well be that those [whom they deride] are better than themselves. And neither shall you defame one another, nor insult one another by [opprobrious] epithets: evil is all imputation of iniquity after [one has attained to] faith; and they who [become guilty thereof and] do not repent - it is they, they who are evildoers! 11 O you who have attained to faith! Avoid most guesswork [about one another] for, behold, some of [such] guesswork is [in itself] a sin; and do not spy upon one another, and neither allow yourselves to speak ill of one another behind your backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, you would loathe it! And be conscious of God. Verily, God is an acceptor of repentance, a dispenser of grace! 12 O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted. 13 ۞ The desert Arabs say: we have believed. Say thou: thou believed not, but rather say: We have submitted; and belief hath not yet entered into your hearts. And if ye obey Allah and His apostle, He shall not diminish from you aught of your works verily Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. 14 The believers are only those who believed in Allah and His apostle and thereafter doubted not, and strave with their riches and their persons in the cause of Allah. Those! they are the truthful. 15 Say: "Are you trying to convince God of your faithfulness? But God knows all there is in the heavens and the earth, for God has knowledge of everything." 16 They think they have done you a favour by becoming Muslims! Say, "Do not consider your Islam a favour to me. No indeed! It is God who bestowed a favour on you by guiding you to the true faith. [Admit this], if you are telling the truth." 17 Verily God knows the unknown of the heavens and the earth; and God perceives all you do. 18