There are some people who say: 'We believe in Allah and the Last Day, 'yet they are not believers. 8 They seek to deceive Allah and those who believe, but they deceive none except themselves, though they do not sense it. 9 Sick are their hearts, and God adds to their malady. For them is suffering for they lie. 10 And when they are told, "Do not spread corruption on earth," they answer, "We are but improving things!" 11 Now surely they themselves are the mischief makers, but they do not perceive. 12 And when it said unto them: believe even as mankind have believed, they say: shall we believe even as the fools have believed? Lo! verily it is they who are the fools; and yet they know not. 13 When they meet those who believe, they say, "We, too, are believers", but when they privily meet their evil geniuses, they say, "Indeed we are with you: we are only mocking at these people". 14 Allah shall pay them back their mockery, and He leaves them alone in their inordinacy, blindly wandering on. 15 They have traded guidance for error, but their bargain has had no profit and they have missed the true guidance. 16 Their likeness is as the likeness of one who kindled a fire; then, when it lighted all around him, Allah took away their light and left them in darkness. (So) they could not see. 17 deaf, dumb, and blind: they will never return [to the right path]. 18 Or, like (those who, under) a cloudburst from the sky with darkness, thunder and lightning, they thrust their fingers in their ears at the sound of every thunderclap for fear of death, and Allah encompasses the unbelievers. 19 The lightning almost snatches away their sight. Every time it lights [the way] for them, they walk therein; but when darkness comes over them, they stand [still]. And if Allah had willed, He could have taken away their hearing and their sight. Indeed, Allah is over all things competent. 20