O you who believe! call to mind the favor of Allah to you when there came down upon you hosts, so We sent against them a strong wind and hosts, that you saw not, and Allah is Seeing what you do. 9 [Remember] when they came at you from above you and from below you, and when eyes shifted [in fear], and hearts reached the throats and you assumed about Allah [various] assumptions. 10 [for] there and then were the believers tried, and shaken with a shock severe. 11 And when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts was a disease began to say: Allah and His Apostle did not promise us (victory) but only to deceive. 12 and when some of them said, "O you people of Yathrib! You cannot withstand [the enemy] here: hence, go back [to your homes]!" — Whereupon a party from among them asked leave of the Prophet, saying, "Behold, our houses are exposed [to attack]!" — The while they were not [really] exposed: they wanted nothing but to flee. 13 If their town had been stormed, and they had been incited to sedition, they would have rebelled with little hesitation. 14 They had certainly promised God that they would not turn away. To promise God is certainly a (great) responsibility. 15 Say: "Of no gain will be your running away if you run from death or being killed, even then you will enjoy the good things of life but only for a while." 16 ۞ Say: "Who is there that could keep you away from God if it be His will to harm you, or if it be His will to show you mercy?" For, [do they not know that] besides God they can find none to protect them, and none to bring them succour? 17 Allah already knoweth those of you who hinder, and those who say unto their brethren: "Come ye hither unto us!" and they come not to the stress of battle save a little, 18 They reduce the help towards you; so when a fearful time comes, you will observe them looking at you with eyes rolling like one enveloped by death; then when the time of fear is over, they begin slandering you with sharp tongues in their greed for the war booty; they have not accepted faith, therefore Allah has nullified their deeds; and this is easy for Allah. 19 They assume that the armies of the disbelievers have not gone away; and were the armies to come again, their wish would be to go out to the villages seeking information about you; and were they to stay among you even then they would not fight, except a few. 20