Believers, if you fear Allah, He will give you a criteria and cleanse you of your sins and forgive you. Allah is the Owner of great bounty. 29 Remember how those who bent on denying the truth plotted against you to imprison you or kill you or expel you: they schemed -- but God also schemed. God is the best of schemers. 30 When Our revelations are recited to them (the unbelievers), they say, "We have heard them. Had we wanted, we could also have composed such statements; they are no more than ancient legends." 31 And lo, they would say: "O God! If this be indeed the truth from Thee, then rain down upon us stones from the skies, or inflict [some other] grievous suffering on us!" 32 But God would not choose to punish them while you are in their midst, nor afflict them when they are seeking forgiveness. 33 And why should Allah not punish them, when they have barred others from the Sacred Mosque, although they were not its guardians? Its only guardians are the cautious, though most of them do not know. 34 and their prayers before the Temple are nothing but whistling and clapping of hands. Taste then, [O unbelievers,] this chastisement as an outcome of your persistent denial of the truth! 35 Those who disbelieve spend their wealth to bar (others) from the Path of Allah. They will spend it; but it will become a regret for them, then they will be overcome. The unbelievers shall be gathered in Gehenna, 36 so that God might separate the bad from the good, and join the bad with one another, and link them all together [within His condemnation,] and then place them in hell. They, they are the lost! 37