Muhammad (Muhammad)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
God will bring to naught all the good deeds of those who are bent on denying the truth and bar [others] from the path of God. 1 whereas those who have attained to faith and do righteous deeds, and have come to believe in what has been bestowed from on high on Muhammad - for it is the truth from their Sustainer - [shall attain to God's grace:] He will efface their [past] bad deeds, and will set their hearts at rest. 2 This, because they who are bent on denying the truth pursue falsehood, whereas they who have attained to faith pursue [but] the truth [that flows] from their Sustainer. In this way does God set forth unto man the parables of their true state. 3 When you meet those who deny the truth in battle, strike them in the neck, and once they are defeated, make [them] prisoners, and afterwards either set them free as an act of grace, or let them ransom [themselves] until the war is finally over. Thus you shall do; and if God had pleased, He would certainly have exacted retribution from them, but His purpose is to test some of you by means of others. As for those who are killed in God's cause, He will never let their deeds be in vain; 4 Soon will He guide them and improve their condition, 5 And He shall make them enter the Garden; He shall have made it known unto them. 6 O you who have attained to faith! If you help [the cause of] God, He will help you, and will make firm your steps; 7 but as for those who are bent on denying the truth, ill fortune awaits them, since He will let all their [good] deeds go to waste: 8 It is because they are averse to what God has revealed that He has rendered their deeds futile. 9 ۞ Have they never journeyed through the land and seen what was the end of those who had gone before them? Allah destroyed them! Likewise it is for the unbelievers, 10 That is because Allah is the protector of those who have believed and because the disbelievers have no protector. 11