O Ye who believe! be not like unto those who disbelieve and say of their brethren when they journey in the land or go to religious war: had they been with us, they had not died nor had they been slain; this is in order that Allah may cause an anguish in their hearts. And it is Allah who maketh alive and causeth to die, and Allah is of that which ye work Beholder. 156 If you are slain or die in God's way, forgiveness and mercy from God are a better thing than that you amass; 157 For, indeed, if you die or are killed, it is to God that you shall be gathered. 158 It was through God's mercy that you dealt with them gently; for had you been stern and hard of heart they would surely have broken away from you. So pardon them and pray that forgiveness be theirs, and seek their counsel in all affairs, And when you have come to a decision place your trust in God alone, for He loves those who place their trust in Him. 159 If Allah helps you, none can overcome you; and if He forsakes you, who is there after Him that can help you? And in Allah (Alone) let believers put their trust. 160 And it is unimaginable that any Prophet would hide something; and whoever hides it, will bring what he hid with him on the Day of Resurrection; then every soul will be paid in full for whatever they earned; and they will not be wronged. 161 So is one who pursues the pleasure of Allah like one who brings upon himself the anger of Allah and whose refuge is Hell? And wretched is the destination. 162 There are degrees (of grace and reprobation) with Allah, and Allah is Seer of what they do. 163 God granted a great favor to the believers by sending a Messenger from their own people to recite to them God's revelations, to purify them of moral defects, to teach them the Book, and to give them wisdom. Before this they had lived in manifest error. 164 So will you say when disaster strikes you, though you had struck them with twice as much, “Where has this come from?” Say (to them, O dear Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him), “It has come from yourselves”; indeed Allah is Able to do all things. 165 What you suffered on the day the two armies had met was by God's dispensation, so that He may distinguish the faithful, 166 and mark out those who were tainted with hypocrisy and when they were told, "Come, fight in God's cause" - or, "Defend yourselves" - answered, "If we but knew [that it would come to a] fight, we would indeed follow you." Unto apostasy were they nearer on that day than unto faith, uttering with their mouths something which was not in their hearts, the while God knew fully well what they were trying to conceal: 167 (They are) the ones that say, (of their brethren slain), while they themselves sit (at ease): "If only they had listened to us they would not have been slain." Say: "Avert death from your own selves, if ye speak the truth." 168 Think not of those, who are slain in the way of Allah, as dead. Nay, they are living. With their Lord they have provision. 169 Happy over what Allah has bestowed upon them from His grace, and rejoicing for those who will succeed them, and have not yet joined them; for on them is no fear nor any grief. 170 ۞ they rejoice in the glad tiding of God's blessings and bounty, and [in the promise] that God will not fail to requite the believers 171