The hypocrites seek to outwit God -- but it is He who outwits them. And when they stand up for prayer, they do so reluctantly and to be seen by others, and they hardly remember God at all. 142 They vacillate between the two, belonging neither to one side nor the other. But for him whom God allows to go astray you can never find the way for him. 143 O ye who believe! Choose not disbelievers for (your) friends in place of believers. Would ye give Allah a clear warrant against you? 144 Lo! the hypocrites (will be) in the lowest deep of the Fire, and thou wilt find no helper for them; 145 Except those who repent and amend and hold fast to Allah and are sincere in their religion to Allah, these are with the believers, and Allah will grant the believers a mighty reward. 146 Why should God punish you if you acknowledge the truth and believe? God is responsive to gratitude and is cognisant. 147 ۞ God does not like ill (of others) spoken about, except by him who has been wronged. For God hears all and knows everything. 148 Whether ye disclose a good or conceal it, or pardon an evil, then verily Allah is ever Pardoning potent. 149 Lo! those who disbelieve in Allah and His messengers, and seek to make distinction between Allah and His messengers, and say: We believe in some and disbelieve in others, and seek to choose a way in between; 150 They are in truth disbelievers. And We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating torment. 151 For those who believe in Allah and His Messengers, and do not differentiate between them, We shall certainly give them their reward. Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate 152