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003.153 Behold! ye were climbing up the high ground, without even casting a side glance at any one, and the Apostle
in your rear was calling you back. There did God give you one distress after another by way of requital, to teach you
not to grieve for (the booty) that had escaped you and for (the ill) that had befallen you. For God is well aware of all
that ye do.
003.154 After (the excitement) of the distress, He sent down calm on a band of you overcome with slumber, while
another band was stirred to anxiety by their own feelings, Moved by wrong suspicions of God-suspicions due to
ignorance. They said: "What affair is this of ours?" Say thou: "Indeed, this affair is wholly God's." They hide in their
minds what they dare not reveal to thee. They say (to themselves): "If we had had anything to do with this affair, We
should not have been in the slaughter here." Say: "Even if you had remained in your homes, those for whom death was
decreed would certainly have gone forth to the place of their death"; but (all this was) that God might test what is in
your breasts and purge what is in your hearts. For God knoweth well the secrets of your hearts.
003.155 Those of you who turned back on the day the two hosts Met,-it was Satan who caused them to fail, because
of some (evil) they had done. But God Has blotted out (their fault): For God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Forbearing.
003.156 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 God may
make it a cause of sighs and regrets in their hearts. It is God that gives Life and Death, and God sees well all that ye
do.
003.157 And if ye are slain, or die, in the way of God, forgiveness and mercy from God are far better than all they
could amass.
003.158 And if ye die, or are slain, Lo! it is unto God that ye are brought together.
003.159 It is part of the Mercy of God that thou dost deal gently with them Wert thou severe or harsh-hearted, they
would have broken away from about thee: so pass over (Their faults), and ask for (God's) forgiveness for them; and
consult them in affairs (of moment). Then, when thou hast Taken a decision put thy trust in God. For God loves those
who put their trust (in Him).
003.160 If God helps you, none can overcome you: If He forsakes you, who is there, after that, that can help you? in
God, then, Let believers put their trust.
003.161 No prophet could (ever) be false to his trust. If any person is so false, He shall, on the Day of Judgment,
restore what he misappropriated; then shall every soul receive its due,- whatever it earned,- and none shall be dealt with
unjustly.
003.162 Is the man who follows the good pleasure of God Like the man who draws on himself the wrath of God, and
whose abode is in Hell?- A woeful refuge!
003.163 They are in varying gardens in the sight of God, and God sees well all that they do.
003.164 God did confer a great favour on the believers when He sent among them an apostle from among themselves,
rehearsing unto them the Signs of God, sanctifying them, and instructing them in Scripture and Wisdom, while, before
that, they had been in manifest error.
003.165 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 God hath power over all things."
003.166 What ye suffered on the day the two armies Met, was with the leave of God, in order that He might test the
believers,-
003.167 And the Hypocrites also. These were told: "Come, fight in the way of God, or (at least) drive (The foe from
your city)." They said: "Had we known how to fight, we should certainly have followed you." They were that day nearer
to Unbelief than to Faith, saying with their lips what was not in their hearts but God hath full knowledge of all they
conceal.
003.168 (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."
003.169 Think not of those who are slain in God's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence
of their Lord;
003.170 They rejoice in the bounty provided by God: And with regard to those left behind, who have not yet joined
them (in their bliss), the (Martyrs) glory in the fact that on them is no fear, nor have they (cause to) grieve.