NOW THOSE who have attained to faith say: "Would that a revelation [allowing us to fight] was bestowed from on high!" But now that a revelation clear in and by itself, mentioning war, has been bestowed from on high, thou canst see those in whose hearts is disease looking at thee, [O Muhammad,] with the look of one who is about to faint for fear of death! And yet, far better for them would be 20 Obedience and good words. And when the matter [of fighting] was determined, if they had been true to Allah, it would have been better for them. 21 Then, belike ye are, if ye turn, to cause corruption in the earth and to sever your kinship. 22 It is these whom Allah has cursed, so He made them deaf to the Truth and blinded their eyes. 23 Ponder then they not on the Qur'an, or are on the hearts locks thereof? 24 Those who have turned back in their traces after the guidance has become clear to them, Satan it was that tempted them, and God respited them. 25 That is because they said to those who were averse to what God sent down, 'We will obey you in some of the affair'; and God knows their secrets. 26 Then how (will it be) when the angels will take their souls at death, smiting their faces and their backs? 27 That is because they follow what angers Allah and hate His pleasure, therefore He has annulled their deeds. 28