Repentance (At-Tawba)
۞ This is a declaration of disavowal by Allah and His Messenger to those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity and with whom you have made treaties: 1 Go ye, then, for four months, backwards and forwards, (as ye will), throughout the land, but know ye that ye cannot frustrate Allah (by your falsehood) but that Allah will cover with shame those who reject Him. 2 And a proclamation is this from Allah and His apostle unto the mankind on the day of the greater pilgrimage that Allah is quit of the associators, and so is His apostle. Wherefore if ye repent, it shall be better for you, but if ye turn away, then know that ye cannot escape Allah. And announce thou unto those who disbelieve a torment afflictive. 3 Except those of the idolaters with whom you made an agreement, then they have not failed you in anything and have not backed up any one against you, so fulfill their agreement to the end of their term; surely Allah loves those who are careful (of their duty). 4 So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. 5 If an idolater seeks protection, then give him asylum that he may hear the word of God. Then escort him to a place of safety, for they are people who do not know. 6