O ye who believe! Be not like the Unbelievers, who say of their brethren, when they are travelling through the Earth or engaged in fighting: "If they had stayed with us, they would not have died, or been slain." This that Allah may make it a cause of sighs and regrets in their hearts. It is Allah that gives Life and Death, and Allah sees well all that ye do. 156 If you are killed or die in God's cause, then surely forgiveness from God and His grace are better than all that one could amass. 157 And if ye die, or are slain, Lo! it is unto Allah that ye are brought together. 158 Only through the Divine Mercy have you (Muhammad) been able to deal with your followers so gently. If you had been stern and hard-hearted, they would all have deserted you a long time ago. Forgive them and ask God to forgive (their sins) and consult with them in certain matters. But, when you reach a decision, trust God. God loves those who trust Him. 159 If Allah supports you, no one can overcome you; and if He forsakes you, who is there who can then help you? And in Allah only should the Muslims trust. 160 It is not for a Prophet to defraud, whosoever defrauds shall bring that fraud on the Day of Resurrection. Then, every soul shall be paid in full what it has earned, and they shall not be wronged. 161 Is then he who follows the pleasure of Allah like him who has made himself deserving of displeasure from Allah, and his abode is hell; and it is an evil destination. 162 There are degrees (of grace and reprobation) with Allah, and Allah is Seer of what they do. 163 God has favoured the faithful by sending an apostle to them from among themselves, who recites to them His messages, and reforms and teaches them the Law and the judgement, for they were clearly in error before. 164 What! When a single disaster smites you, although ye smote (your enemies) with one twice as great, do ye say?- "Whence is this?" Say (to them): "It is from yourselves: For Allah hath power over all things." 165 What befell you, when the two armies confronted each other, was by the permission of God so that He would know who were the true believers 166 And that He might know the hypocrites; and it was said to them: Come, fight in Allah's way, or defend yourselves. They said: If we knew fighting, we would certainly have followed you. They were on that day much nearer to unbelief than to belief. They say with their mouths what is not in their hearts, and Allah best knows what they conceal. 167 who said of their brothers (and they themselves held back), 'Had they obeyed us, they would not have been slain.' Say: 'Then avert death from yourselves, if you speak truly.' 168 Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord; 169 exulting in that [martyrdom] which God has bestowed upon them out of His bounty. And they rejoice in the glad tiding given to those [of their brethren] who have been left behind and have not yet joined them, that no fear need they have, and neither shall they grieve: 170 ۞ that they will be rewarded with bounties and favors from their Lord and that God will not neglect the reward of the true believers. 171