45سَيُهزَمُ الجَمعُ وَيُوَلّونَ الدُّبُرَMuhammad Asad[Yet] the hosts [of those who deny the truth] shall be routed, and they shall turn their backs [in flight]!1The fact that the Prophet recited this verse just before the battle of Badr (see note 10 on 8:10) has caused most of the commentators to assume that it had been revealed as a specific prophecy of the future victory of the Muslims over the pagan Quraysh. While this is possible, I believe, nevertheless, that the above passage has the much wider, timeless meaning explained in the preceding note. This view finds strong support in the subsequent verses, which speak of the evil otherworldly consequences of deliberate sinning, quite apart from the social and moral defeat, in this world, of the sinful community as a whole.