۞ O YOU who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in upholding equity, bearing witness to the truth for the sake of God, even though it be against your own selves or your parents and kinsfolk. Whether the person concerned be rich or poor, God's claim takes precedence over [the claims of] either of them. Do not, then, follow your own desires, lest you swerve from justice: for if you distort [the truth,] behold, God is indeed aware of all that you do! 135 O you who have believed, believe in Allah and His Messenger and the Book that He sent down upon His Messenger and the Scripture which He sent down before. And whoever disbelieves in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day has certainly gone far astray. 136 Those who believe, and then disbelieve, and then believe, and then disbelieve, and then increase in unbelief-God is not likely to forgive them, neither to guide them on any way. 137 Tell the hypocrites that for them there will be a painful torment. 138 Those who leave the Muslims to befriend the disbelievers; do they seek honour from them? Then (know that) undoubtedly all honour is for Allah. 139 He has instructed you in the Book that, when you hear people deny or ridicule God's revelations, you must not sit with them unless they engage in other talk, or else you yourselves shall become like them. God will gather all the hypocrites and those who deny the truth together in Hell. 140 (The hypocrites) wait and watch. If God grants you victory, they say, "Did we not help you?" If the unbelievers are victorious, they say, "Did we not encourage you not to surrender to the believers and did we not protect you from them?" God will judge among you on the Day of Judgment. He will never help the disbelievers against the believers. 141