The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

24: 22
Light 221
10 If it were not for God’s bounty and mercy towards you, if it were
not that God accepts repentance and is wise . . .! a 11 It was a group
from among you that concocted the lie b ––do not consider it a bad
thing for you [people]; it was a good thing––and every one of them
will be charged with the sin he has earned. He who took the greatest
part in it will have a painful punishment. 12 When you heard the lie,
why did believing men and women not think well of their own
people and declare, ‘This is obviously a lie’? 13 And why did the
accusers not bring four witnesses to it? If they cannot produce such
witnesses, they are the liars in God’s eyes. 14 If it were not for God’s
bounty and mercy towards you in this world and the next, you would
already have been afflicted by terrible suffering for indulging in such
talk. 15 When you took it up with your tongues, and spoke with your
mouths things you did not know [to be true], you thought it was
trivial but to God it was very serious. 16 When you heard the lie, why
did you not say, ‘We should not repeat this – God forbid! – It is a
monstrous slander’? 17 God warns you never to do anything like this
again, if you are true believers. 18 God makes His messages clear to
you: God is all knowing, all wise. 19 A painful punishment waits in
this world and the next for those who like indecency to spread
among the believers: God knows and you do not. 20 If it were not for
God’s bounty and mercy and the fact that He is compassionate and
merciful . . .! 21 Believers, do not follow in Satan’s footsteps – if you
do so, he will urge you to indecency and evil. If it were not for God’s
bounty and mercy towards you, not one of you would ever have
attained purity. God purifies whoever He will: God is all hearing,
all seeing.
22 Those who have been graced with bounty and plenty should not
swear that they will [no longer] give to kinsmen, the poor, those
who emigrated in God’s way: c let them pardon and forgive. Do you
not wish that God should forgive you? God is most forgiving and
merciful.
a The statement ‘If it were not for God’s bounty and mercy’ is repeated four times
in this context, but the concluding clauses are suspended in verses 10 and 20. This
rhetorical suspense works in English and in Arabic. (See verses 14, 20, 21).
b This alludes to the accusation made against Aisha, the Prophet’s wife.
c Abu Bakr, father of Aisha, who used to support a relative called Mistah, swore,
when Mistah participated in spreading the rumour, that he would never support Mistah
again.