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wa-li-yumaḥḥiṣa llāhu lladhīna ʾāmanū wa-yamḥaqa l-kāfirīna
And so that Allah may purge [the hearts of] those who have faith and that He may wipe out the faithless.
— Ali Quli Qarai
3Āl ʿImrānآل عمرانVerse 141 of 200
Family of Imran
And so that Allah may purge [the hearts of] those who have faith and that He may wipe out the faithless.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah 'Ali-Imran, Verse 141
141. "And that Allah may purge those who believe and wipe out the disbelievers."
The Arabic word /tamhis/ means to purify from any vice and defect, and the word /mahq/ in Arabic means to decrease gradually. Maybe, in the defeat of 'Uhud, Allah wished to show the weak points of Muslims to them so that they would think of improving themselves and decide to recompense their shortcomings in order that they might be necessarily prepared for the later acts. Sometimes the instructive failures are more convenient than the victories that cause negligence.