But alms are only to be given to the poor and the needy,24 and those who collect them, and to those25 whose hearts are won to Islam, and for ransoms, and for debtors, and for the cause of God, and the wayfarer.  This is an ordinance from God:  and God is Knowing, Wise.

There are some of them who injure26 the Prophet and say, “He is all ear.”  Say:  An ear of good to you!  He believeth in God, and believeth the believers:  and is a mercy to such of you as believe: 

But they who injure the Apostle of God, shall suffer a dolorous chastisement.

They swear to you by God to please you; but worthier is God, and His Apostle, that they should please Him, if they are believers.

Know they not, that for him who opposeth God and His Apostle, is surely the fire of Hell, in which he shall remain for ever?  This is the great ignominy!

The hypocrites are afraid lest a Sura should be sent down concerning them, to tell them plainly what is in their hearts.  Say:  Scoff ye; but God will bring to light that which ye are afraid of.

And if thou question them, they will surely say, “We were only discoursing and jesting.”  Say:  What! do ye scoff at God, and His signs, and His Apostle?

Make no excuse:  from faith ye have passed to infidelity!  If we forgive some of you, we will punish others:  for that they have been evil doers.

Hypocritical men and women imitate one another.27 They enjoin what is evil, and forbid what is just, and shut up their hands.28 They have forgotten God, and He hath forgotten them.  Verily, the hypocrites are the perverse doers.

God promiseth the hypocritical men and women, and the unbelievers, the fire of Hell-therein shall they abide-this their sufficing portion!  And God hath cursed them, and a lasting torment shall be theirs.

Ye act like those who flourished before you.  Mightier were they than you in prowess, and more abundant in wealth and children, and they enjoyed their portion:  so ye also enjoy your portion, as they who were before you enjoyed theirs; and ye hold discourses like their discourses.  These! vain their works both for this world and for that which is to come!  These! they are the lost ones.

Hath not the history reached them of those who were before them?-of the people of Noah,29 and of Ad, and of Themoud, and of the people of Abraham, and of the inhabitants of Madian, and of the overthrown cities?  Their apostles came to them with clear proofs of their mission:  God would not deal wrongly by them, but they dealt wrongly by themselves.

The faithful of both sexes are mutual friends:  they enjoin what is just, and forbid what is evil; they observe prayer, and pay the legal impost, and they obey God and His Apostle.  On these will God have mercy:  verily, God is Mighty, Wise.

To the faithful, both men and women, God promiseth gardens ’neath which the rivers flow, in which they shall abide, and goodly mansions in the gardens of Eden.  But best of all will be God’s good pleasure in them.  This will be the great bliss.