And when it was among the greatest of admonitions to clarify what is deserved for sin from punishment, He educated them with a third admonition that is more severe than the first two. He said, admonishing and denouncing the state of those who engage in slander, warning and threatening: "Indeed, those who love..." He expressed by love an indication that none commits this, with its disgrace, except one who loves it. And none loves it except one who is far from uprightness. "That it may spread..." meaning to spread by saying or by action. "The indecency..." meaning the great vile act, and it becomes for it a group that defends it. "Among those who have believed..." even if they are in the lowest degrees of faith, how about those who have ascended to its peak and have settled in its utmost? "For them is a painful punishment..." as a deterrent for them from intending to spread something like that due to the great harm in it. "In this world..." by the prescribed punishment and other than it, by which Allah takes revenge on them. "And the Hereafter..." for indeed Allah knows whether the prescribed punishment has expiated all their transgressions or not. "And Allah..." meaning the One who possesses the attributes of majesty and beauty. "Knows..." meaning He has complete knowledge, for He knows the measures of things, what is apparent of them and what is hidden, and what the wisdom is in concealing or revealing them, or other than that from all matters. "And you do not know..." meaning you have no knowledge of yourselves, so know what Allah has taught you, and do not exceed it, lest you go astray.