O you who have believed, fear Allah and be with those who are true. 119 It was not proper for the people of Madinah and those desert Arabs around them to hold back from following God's Messenger, and to prefer their own lives to his life. This is because whenever they suffer from thirst or weariness or hunger for God's cause, and whenever they take any step which provokes those who deny the truth, or inflicts any loss upon the enemy, it shall be counted as a good deed in the sight of God, God will not deny the righteous their reward, 120 and whenever they spend anything [for the sake of God], be it little or much, and whenever they traverse the land [in God's cause] -- it is recorded to their credit, and God will grant them the best reward for all that they have been doing. 121 ۞ Nor should the Believers all go forth together: if a contingent from every expedition remained behind, they could devote themselves to studies in religion, and admonish the people when they return to them,- that thus they (may learn) to guard themselves (against evil). 122