Mark those who were told: ‘Lay down your arms; recite your prayers and render the alms levy.’ When they were ordered to fight, some of them feared man as much as they feared God or even more. ‘Lord,’ they said, ‘why do You bid us fight? Could you not give us a brief respite?’ Say: ‘Trifling are the pleasures of this life. Better is the life to come for those who would keep from evil. You shall not be wronged by as much as the husk of a date-stone.