O YOU who have attained to faith! Call to mind the blessings which God bestowed on you (at the time) when [enemy] hosts came down upon you, whereupon We let loose against them a storm wind and [heavenly] hosts that you could not see: yet God saw all that you did. 9 When they came upon you from above you and from below you, and when eyes turned aside and hearts reached to the gullets, and of Allah ye were imagining various things. 10 In that situation were the Believers tried: they were shaken as by a tremendous shaking. 11 And when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts was a disease began to say: Allah and His Apostle did not promise us (victory) but only to deceive. 12 When a section of them said: "O people of Yathrib, there is no place for you here, turn back;" and a section of them asked leave of the Prophet, saying: "Our homes lie exposed," -- while they were not exposed. Their only intention was to run away. 13 If the enemy had entered from all sides and they had been exhorted to treachery, they would have committed it, and would have hesitated thereupon but little. 14 Yet they had made covenant with God before that, that they would not turn their backs; and covenants with God shall be questioned of 15 Say: 'Flight will not avail you, if you flee from death or slaughter, you would enjoy (this world) only for a little (time)' 16 ۞ Say thou: who is there that will protect you from Allah if He intendeth to bring evil on you or intendeth mercy for you? And they shall not find for themselves, besides Allah, a patron or helper. 17 Allah already knows those among you who keep back (men) from fighting in Allah's Cause, and those who say to their brethren "Come here towards us," while they (themselves) come not to the battle except a little. 18 They are niggardly in spending for you. When fear comes, you can see them looking at you, their eyes rolling about like to faint because of the agony of death. When their fear subsides, they start to bite you with their sharp tongues. They are miserly in spending for a virtuous cause and have no faith. God has turned their deeds devoid of all virtue. This was not at all difficult for God. 19 They think the allies are not gone, and if the allies should come (again) they would fain be in the deserts with the desert Arabs asking for news about you, and if they were among you they would not fight save a little. 20