O believers, if you listen to the infidels they will make you turn your backs, and you will be the losers. 149 But Allah is your protector, and He is the best of helpers. 150 We will cast into the hearts of the unbelievers terror, for that they have associated with God that for which He sent down never authority; their lodging shall be the Fire; evil is the lodging of the evildoers. 151 AND, INDEED, God made good His promise unto you when, by His leave, you were about to destroy your foes - until the moment when you lost heart and acted contrary to the [Prophet's] command, and disobeyed after He had brought you within view of that [victory] for which you were longing. There were among you such as cared for this world [alone,] just as there were among you such as cared for the life to come: whereupon, in order that He might put you to a test, He prevented you from defeating your foes. But now He has effaced your sin: for God is limitless in His bounty unto the believers. 152 ۞ [Remember the time] when you fled, paying no heed to anyone, while at your rear the Apostle was calling out to you - wherefore He requited you with woe in return for [the Apostle's] woe, so that you should not grieve [merely] over what had escaped you, nor over what had befallen you: for God is aware of all that you do. 153 Then, after inflict-ing this grief, He sent down an inner peace upon you - a sleep which overtook some of you. Those who were concerned merely about themselves, entertaining false notions about Allah - the notions of the Age of Ignorance - asked: 'Have we any say in the matter?' Tell them: 'Truly, all power of decision rests solely with Allah.' Indeed, they conceal in their hearts what they would not reveal to you, saying: 'If we had any power of decision, we would not have been slain here.' Say: 'Even if you had been in your houses, those for whom slaying had been appointed would have gone forth to the places where they were to be slain.' And all this happened so that Allah might test your secret thoughts and purge your hearts of all impurities. Allah knows well what is in the breasts of men. 154 Surely those of them who turned their backs on the day when the two armies met (at Uhud) did so because Satan made them slip because of some of their lapses. But Allah has pardoned them; He is All-Forgiving, All-Forbearing. 155