O Prophet! say unto the captives who are in your hands: if Allah knoweth any good in your hearts He will give you better than that which hath been taken away from you, and shall forgive you; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. 70 But if they intend to betray you - then they have already betrayed Allah before, and He empowered [you] over them. And Allah is Knowing and Wise. 71 BEHOLD, as for those who have attained to faith, and who have forsaken the domain of evil and are striving hard, with their possessions and their lives, in God's cause, as well as those who shelter and succour [them] - these are [truly] the friends and protectors of one another. But as for those who have come to believe without having migrated [to your country] - you are in no wise responsible for their protection until such a time as they migrate [to you]. Yet, if they ask you for succour against religious persecution, it is your duty to give [them] this succour - except against a people between whom and yourselves there is a covenant: for God sees all that you do. 72 And those who disbelieve are protectors one of another - If ye do not so, there will be confusion in the land, and great corruption. 73 Those who accepted the faith and abandoned their homes, and struggled in the cause of God, and those who gave them shelter and helped them, are veritably true believers. For them is forgiveness and noble sustenance. 74 And those who have believed afterwards and emigrated, and struggled with you -- they belong to you; but those related by blood are nearer to one another in the Book of God; surely God has knowledge of everything. 75