Indeed, those who came with falsehood are a group among you. Do not think it bad for you; rather it is good for you. For every person among them is what [punishment] he has earned from the sin, and he who took upon himself the greater portion thereof - for him is a great punishment. 11 When you heard of it, why did not the believing men and believing women think well of their own people, and say, "This is a manifest slander?" 12 Why did they not bring four witnesses of it? But as they have not brought witnesses they are liars before 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 received it with your tongues and said with your mouths that of which you had no knowledge and thought it was insignificant while it was, in the sight of Allah, tremendous. 15 When you heard it, why did you not say: 'It is not right for us to speak of this. Exaltations to You! This is a mighty slander' 16 God warns you never to repeat the like of it again, if you are true believers. 17 Allah makes His Revelations clear to you, and He is All-Knowing, All-Wise. 18 As for those, who like that indecency should spread among the Believers, they deserve a painful punishment in this world and in the Hereafter, for Allah knows and you do not know (its consequences). 19 And were it not for Allah’s munificence and His mercy upon you, and that Allah is Forgiving, Most Merciful – you would have tasted its outcome. 20