NOW THOSE who have attained to faith say: "Would that a revelation [allowing us to fight] was bestowed from on high!" But now that a revelation clear in and by itself, mentioning war, has been bestowed from on high, thou canst see those in whose hearts is disease looking at thee, [O Muhammad,] with the look of one who is about to faint for fear of death! And yet, far better for them would be 20 Yet obedience and honorable words (would be better for them). Then, when the matter is decided, if they were true to Allah it would be better for them. 21 Would ye then, if ye were given the command, work corruption in the land and sever your ties of kinship? 22 It is such as these whom God rejects, and whom He makes deaf [to the voice of truth,] and whose eyes He blinds [to its sight]! 23 Will they not, then, ponder over this Quran? Or are there locks upon their hearts? 24 VERILY, those who turn their backs [on this message] after guidance has been vouchsafed to them, [do it because] Satan has embellished their fancies and filled them with false hopes: 25 [they do turn their backs on it] inasmuch as they are wont to say unto those who abhor all that God has revealed, "We will comply with your views on some points." But God knows their secret thoughts: 26 Then how [will it be] when the angels take them in death, striking their faces and their backs? 27 That is because they followed that which angered Allah, and hated that which pleased Him. So He made their deeds fruitless. 28