And what hath come to you that ye expend not for the cause of God? since the heritage of the Heavens and of the Earth is God's only! Those among you who contributed before the victory, and fought, shall be differently treated from certain others among you! Such shall have a nobler grade than those who contributed and fought after it. But a goodly recompense hath God promised to all; and God is fully informed of your actions. Who is he that will lend a generous loan to God? So will He double it to him, and he shall have a noble reward. One day thou shalt see the believers, men and women, with their light running before them, and on their right hand.3 The angels shall say to them, "Good tidings for you this day of gardens beneath whose shades the rivers flow, in which ye shall abide for ever!" This the great bliss! On that day the hypocrites, both men and women, shall say to those who believe, "Tarry for us, that we may kindle our light at yours." It shall be said, "Return ye back, and seek light for yourselves." But between them shall be set a wall with a gateway, within which shall be the Mercy, and in front, without it, the Torment. They shall cry to them, "Were we not with you?" They shall say, "Yes! but ye led yourselves into temptation, and ye delayed, and ye doubted, and the good things ye craved deceived you, till the doom of God arrived:–and the deceiver deceived you in regard to God." On that day, therefore, no ransom shall be taken from you or from those who believe not:–your abode the fire!–This shall be your master!4 and wretched the journey thither! Hath not the time come, for those who believe, to humble their hearts at the warning of God and at the truth which he hath sent down? and that they be not as those to whom the Scriptures were given heretofore, whose lifetime was prolonged, but whose hearts were hardened, and many of them were perverse? Know that God quickeneth the earth after its death! Now have we made these signs clear to you, that ye may understand. Verily, they who give alms, both men and women, and they who lend a generous loan to God,–doubled shall it be to them–and they shall have a noble recompense. And they who believed in God and his apostle are the men of truth, and the witnesses in the presence of their Lord;5 They shall have their recompense and their light: But as for the infidels, and those who give the lie to our signs, these shall be the inmates of Hell. Know ye that this world's life is only a sport, and pastime, and show, and a cause of vainglory among you! And the multiplying of riches and children is like the plants which spring up after rain–Their growth rejoiceth the husband-man; then they wither away, and thou seest them all yellow; then they become stubble. And in the next life is a severe chastisement, Or else pardon from God and His satisfaction: and this world's life is but a cheating fruition.6