O YOU who have attained to faith! If you pay heed to those who are bent on denying the truth, they will cause you to turn back on your heels, and you will be the losers. 149 Nay, Allah is your Maula (Patron, Lord, Helper and Protector, etc.), and He is the Best of helpers. 150 We shall strike terror into the hearts of unbelievers for ascribing compeers to God for which He has sent down no sanction. Hell is their residence, the evil abode of the unjust. 151 And Allah did indeed fulfil His Promise to you when you were killing them (your enemy) with His Permission; until (the moment) you lost your courage and fell to disputing about the order, and disobeyed after He showed you (of the booty) which you love. Among you are some that desire this world and some that desire the Hereafter. Then He made you flee from them (your enemy), that He might test you. But surely, He forgave you, and Allah is Most Gracious to the believers. 152 ۞ And when you were going up, and paid no heed for anyone, and the Messenger was calling you from behind; so He rewarded you with grief upon grief that you might not sorrow for what escaped you neither for what smote you. And Allah is Aware of what you do. 153 Then, after this woe, He sent down upon you a sense of security, an inner calm which enfolded some of you, whereas the others, who cared mainly for themselves, entertained wrong thoughts about God - thoughts of pagan ignorance - saying, "Did we, then, have any power of decision [in this matter]?" Say: "Verily, all power of decision does rest with God" - [but as for them,] they are trying to conceal within themselves that [weakness of faith] which they would not reveal unto thee, [O Prophet, by] saying, "If we had any power of decision, we would not have left so many dead behind." Say [unto them]: "Even if you had remained in your homes, those [of you] whose death had been ordained would indeed have gone forth to the places where they were destined to lie down." And [all this befell you] so that God might put to a test all that you harbour in your bosoms, and render your innermost hearts pure of all dross: for God is aware of what is in the hearts [of men]. 154 As for those of you who turned back on the day the two hosts met, it was the Satan who made them slip because of something they had earned; and of a surety Allah hath pardoned them. Verily, Allah is Forgiving, Forbearing. 155