O Prophet, say to those you have taken captive in your hand: 'If Allah finds goodness in your hearts, He will give you that which is better than what has been taken from you, and He will forgive you. Allah is Forgiving, the Most Merciful' 70 And should they but seek to play false with thee - well, they were false to God [Himself] ere this: but He gave [the believers] mastery over them. And God is all-knowing, wise. 71 BEHOLD, as for those who have attained to faith, and who have forsaken the domain of evil and are striving hard, with their possessions and their lives, in God's cause, as well as those who shelter and succour [them] - these are [truly] the friends and protectors of one another. But as for those who have come to believe without having migrated [to your country] - you are in no wise responsible for their protection until such a time as they migrate [to you]. Yet, if they ask you for succour against religious persecution, it is your duty to give [them] this succour - except against a people between whom and yourselves there is a covenant: for God sees all that you do. 72 With all this, [remember that] those who are bent on denying the truth are allies of one another; and unless you act likewise [among yourselves,] oppression will reign on earth, and great corruption. 73 And those who believed and migrated and fought in Allah's cause, and those who gave shelter and provided help – it is they who are the true believers; for them is pardon, and an honourable sustenance. 74 And those who afterwards believed and migrated and fought along with you – they too are from among you; and family members (blood relations) are nearer to one another in the Book of Allah; indeed Allah knows everything. 75