There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often. 21 As for the true believers, when they saw the invading confederates, they cried out: “This is what Allah and His Messenger had promised us, and what Allah and His Messenger said was absolutely true.” This only increased their faith and submission. 22 Among the believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah [i.e. they have gone out for Jihad (holy fighting), and showed not their backs to the disbelievers], of them some have fulfilled their obligations (i.e. have been martyred), and some of them are still waiting, but they have never changed [i.e. they never proved treacherous to their covenant which they concluded with Allah] in the least. 23 so that Allah will recompense the truthful for their truthfulness and punish the hypocrites if He will, or turn again to them. Surely, Allah is the Forgiver and the Most Merciful. 24 Allah sent back the unbelievers empty-handed, their hearts seething with rage. Allah sufficed the believers in their fight. Allah is Most Powerful, Most Mighty. 25 He made those of the people of the Book who had helped (the tribes) descend from their forts, and filled their hearts with dread, so that you killed some and made many captive; 26 And He made you inherit their lands and mansions and wealth, and a country you had not traversed before, for God has power over everything. 27