Some of the desert Arabs, too, came to make excuses, asking to be granted exemption. Those who lied to God and His Messenger stayed behind at home. Those who denied the truth among them will be afflicted with a painful chastisement, 90 There is no blame on the weak nor on the sick nor on those who have nothing to enable them to join (the struggle in the Way of Allah) if they stay behind provided that they are sincere to Allah and to His Messenger. There is no cause for reproach against those who do good. Allah is All-Forgiving, Ever Merciful. 91 Nor can there be any cause for reproach against those who, when they came to you asking for mounts to go to the battlefront, and when you said that you had no mounts for them, they went back, their eyes overflowing with tears, grieving that they had no resources to enable them to take part in fighting. 92 ۞ But the blame is to be laid on those who asked permission of you whilst they are rich. They are content to remain with those who stay behind. Allah has set a seal upon their hearts so they do not know. 93 They will excuse themselves to you when you go back to them. Say: Urge no excuse, by no means will we believe you; indeed Allah has informed us of matters relating to you; and now Allah and His Apostle will see your doings, then you shall be brought back to the Knower of the unseen and the seen, then He will inform you of what you did. 94 When you will have returned to them, [O believers,] they will swear to you by God, [repeating their excuses,] with a view to your letting them be. Let them be, then: behold, they are loathsome, and hell is their goal in recompense for what they were wont to do. 95 They will swear unto you, that ye may be pleased with them but if ye are pleased with them, Allah is not pleased with those who disobey. 96 The Arabs of the desert are the worst in Unbelief and hypocrisy, and most fitted to be in ignorance of the command which Allah hath sent down to His Messenger: But Allah is All-knowing, All-Wise. 97 Whatever some of the desert dwelling Arabs spend for the cause of God, they consider it a loss to themselves. They wish to see you in trouble. Trouble has struck them already. God is All-hearing and All-knowing. 98 And some villagers are those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and consider the spending as the means of obtaining proximity to Allah and obtaining the prayers of the Noble Messenger; pay heed! Yes indeed it is the means of proximity for them; Allah will soon admit them into His mercy; indeed Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful. 99