The Quran

120

ما كانَ لِأَهلِ المَدينَةِ وَمَن حَولَهُم مِنَ الأَعرابِ أَن يَتَخَلَّفوا عَن رَسولِ اللَّهِ وَلا يَرغَبوا بِأَنفُسِهِم عَن نَفسِهِ ۚ ذٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُم لا يُصيبُهُم ظَمَأٌ وَلا نَصَبٌ وَلا مَخمَصَةٌ في سَبيلِ اللَّهِ وَلا يَطَئونَ مَوطِئًا يَغيظُ الكُفّارَ وَلا يَنالونَ مِن عَدُوٍّ نَيلًا إِلّا كُتِبَ لَهُم بِهِ عَمَلٌ صالِحٌ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يُضيعُ أَجرَ المُحسِنينَ

Muhammad Asad

It does not behove the people of the [Prophet's] City and the bedouin [who live] around them to hold back from following God's Apostle, or to care for their own selves more than for him¹ - for, whenever they suffer from thirst or weariness or hunger in God's cause, and whenever they take any step which confounds² those who deny the truth, and whenever there comes to them from the enemy whatever may be destined for them³ - [whenever anything thereof comes to pass,] a good deed isrecorded in their favour.⁴ Verily, God does not fail to requite the doers of good!

Although this and the following verses relate, on the face of it, to "the people of the Prophet's City" (see note 133 above) and to "the bedouin who live around them", their purport is obviously general, and applies to all believers at all times. The specific reference to "the Prophets City" is due to the fact that it was the place where the revelation of the Qur'an was completed and Islam came to its full fruition under the Prophet's guidance.
Lit., "causes wrath to".
Lit., "[whenever] they get from the enemy whatever they get" -i.e., victory or death or injurv.
In its original construction, this sentence reads thus: "and neither thirst afflicts them..., nor do they take any step..., nor do they get from the enemy..., without that a good deed is recorded in their behalf". The same construction is applied to the next verse.