Verily, numerous among you are those who would falsely accuse others of unchastity: [but, O you who are thus wronged,] deem it not a bad thing for you: nay, it is good for you! [As for the slanderers,] unto every one of them [will be accounted] all that he has earned by [thus] sinning; and awesome suffering awaits any of them who takes it upon himself to enhance this [sin]! 11 Why, when you heard it, did not the believing men and believing women think good of one another and say, "This is an obvious falsehood"? 12 Why did the slanderers not bring four witnesses (to prove their charge)? Now that they have not brought witnesses, they themselves are liars in the sight of Allah. 13 Had it not been for the grace of Allah and His mercy unto you in the world and the Hereafter an awful doom had overtaken you for that whereof ye murmured. 14 When you were spreading it with your tongues and saying with your mouths things of which you had no knowledge, you considered it to be a trivial matter, but, in God's sight, it was very serious. 15 Would that on hearing this report, you had said, "We have nothing to say about it. God forbid! It is a serious accusation." 16 God warns you never to repeat the like of it again, if you are true believers. 17 Allah makes plain to you His verses, and Allah is the Knower, the Wise. 18 Those who love that indecency should be spread abroad concerning them that believe -- there awaits them a painful chastisement in the present world and the world to come; and God knows, and you know not. 19 But for the grace of God and His mercy (much harm would have been done); yet God is compassionate and kind. 20