And so it is that We have made you the best nation* for you are witnesses** against mankind, and the Noble Messenger is your guardian and your witness; and (O dear Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) We had appointed the qiblah which you formerly observed only to see (test) who follows the Noble Messenger, and who turns away; and it was indeed hard except for those whom Allah guided; and it does not befit Allah’s Majesty to waste your faith! Indeed Allah is Most Compassionate, Most Merciful towards mankind. (* The best Ummah is that of Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him. ** The Holy Prophet is a witness from Allah.)

They rejoice because of the favours from Allah and (His) munificence, and because Allah does not waste the reward of the believers.

So their Lord accepted their prayer, for I do not waste the efforts of any (righteous) worker, male or female; you are all one among yourselves; so those who migrated and were driven out from their homes and were harassed in My cause, and fought, and were slain – I will certainly wipe out all their sins and will certainly admit them into Gardens beneath which rivers flow; a reward from Allah; and only with Allah is the best reward.

And those who hold fast to the Book, and have kept the prayer established; and We do not waste the wages of the righteous.

It did not befit the people of Medinah and the people of the villages around them, to stay behind the Noble Messenger of Allah, nor to consider their own lives dearer than his life; that is because the thirst or the pain or the hunger that afflicts them in Allah's cause, and the step they tread on a place that angers the disbelievers, and whatever harm they cause the enemy – a good deed is recorded for them in lieu of all of these; indeed Allah does not waste the wages of the virtuous.