YOU ARE indeed the best community that has ever been brought forth for [the good of] mankind: you enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong, and you believe in God. Now if the followers of earlier revelation had attained to [this kind of] faith, it would have been for their own good; [but only few] among them are believers, while most of them are iniquitous: 110 They will do you no harm but annoyance; and if they fight you they will only turn their backs, then no help will reach them. 111 Disgrace has been destined for them – wherever they are they shall not find peace, except by a rope from Allah and a rope from men – and they have deserved the wrath of Allah, and misery is destined for them; that is because they used to disbelieve in the signs of Allah, and unjustly martyr the Prophets; that was for their disobedience and transgression. 112 ۞ They are not [all] the same; among the People of the Scripture is a community standing [in obedience], reciting the verses of Allah during periods of the night and prostrating [in prayer]. 113 They believe in God and the Day of Judgment. They command people to follow good, prohibit others from committing evil and compete with each other in doing good deeds. These are the righteous ones. 114 And whatsoever good you do, you shall not be denied the just reward of it; and God knows the godfearing. 115 The wealth and the children of the unbelievers can never make them independent of God. They are the dwellers of hell wherein they will live forever. 116 that which they spend in pursuit of the life of this world is like a biting frosty blast which smites the harvest of a people who have wronged themselves, and destroys it. God is not unjust to them; they are unjust to their own souls. 117 O you who have believed, do not take as intimates those other than yourselves, for they will not spare you [any] ruin. They wish you would have hardship. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater. We have certainly made clear to you the signs, if you will use reason. 118 Ah! ye are those who love them, but they love you not,- though ye believe in the whole of the Book. When they meet you, they say, "We believe": But when they are alone, they bite off the very tips of their fingers at you in their rage. Say: "Perish in your rage; Allah knoweth well all the secrets of the heart." 119 If good comes your way, they are vexed; but if evil befalls you they are pleased and rejoice; yet if you are patient and guard yourselves against evil, their cunning will not harm you in the least, for whatsoever they do is well within the reach of God. 120