The desert Arabs who lagged behind will say to thee: "We were engaged in (looking after) our flocks and herds, and our families: do thou then ask forgiveness for us." They say with their tongues what is not in their hearts. Say: "Who then has any power at all (to intervene) on your behalf with Allah, if His Will is to give you some loss or to give you some profit? But Allah is well acquainted with all that ye do. 11 Nay, you thought that the Apostle and the believers would never return to their kith and kin: and this seemed goodly to your hearts. And you entertained [such] evil thoughts because you have always been people devoid of all good!" 12 Whoso believes not in God and His Messenger, We have prepared for the unbelievers a Blaze. 13 To God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He forgives or punishes whomever He wants. God is All-forgiving and All-merciful. 14 Those who are left behind will say when you set forth for the gaining of acquisitions: Allow us (that) we may follow you. They desire to change the world of Allah. Say: By no means shall you follow us; thus did Allah say before. But they will say: Nay! you are jealous of us. Nay! they do not understand but a little. 15 Say to the ignorant who stayed behind, “You will soon be called against a nation of great military strength – to fight against them or that they become Muslims; so if you obey, Allah will give you an excellent reward; and if you turn away, the way you had turned away before, He will mete out a painful punishment to you.” 16 There is no fault in the blind, and there is no fault in the lame, and there is no fault in the sick. And whosoever obeys God and His Messenger, He will admit him into gardens underneath which rivers flow; but whosoever turns his back, him He will chastise with a painful chastisement. 17