The Quran

وَلا يَأتَلِ أُولُو الفَضلِ مِنكُم وَالسَّعَةِ أَن يُؤتوا أُولِي القُربىٰ وَالمَساكينَ وَالمُهاجِرينَ في سَبيلِ اللَّهِ ۖ وَليَعفوا وَليَصفَحوا ۗ أَلا تُحِبّونَ أَن يَغفِرَ اللَّهُ لَكُم ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَفورٌ رَحيمٌ

Muhammad Asad

Hence, [even if they have been wronged by slander,] let not those of you who have been graced with [God's] favour and ease of life ever become remiss in helping¹ [the erring ones among] their near of kin, and the needy, and those who have forsaken the domain of evil for the sake of God,² but let them pardon and forbear. [For,] do you not desire that God should forgive you your sins, seeing that God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace?³

Or: "Swear that [henceforth] they would not help [lit., "give to"] , etc. Both these meanings - "he swore [that]" and "he became remiss [in]" - are attributable to the verb ala; which appears in the above sentence in the form ya'tal. My rendering is based on the interpretation given to this verb by the great philologist Abu al-Qasim al-Harawi (cf. Lane I, 84).
For an explanation of this rendering of the designation al-muhajiran (or, in other places, alladhina hajaru), see surah 2, note 203.
It is generally assumed that this verse refers to Abu Bakr, who swore that he would never again help his poor relative, the muhajir Mistah (whom he used to support until then) after the latter had taken part in slandering Abu Bakr's daughter, 'A'ishah (see note 12 above). There is no doubt that this assumption of the commentators is well-founded; but there is also no doubt that the ethical purport of the above verse is timeless and, therefore, independent of the fact or facts with which it appears to be histoncally linked. (This view finds additional support in the use of the plural form throughout the above passage.) The call to "pardon and forbear" is fully consonant with the Qur'anic principle of countering evil with good (see 13:22 and the corresponding note 44).