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Allahu ta’ālā then says: But Allahu ta’ālā was not about to chastise them, for what they requested, while you were among them, for when chastisement is sent down it is all-encompassing, and no community was ever chastised except after its prophet and the believers had departed from it; nor was Allahu ta’ālā about to chastise them while they sought forgiveness, crying, as they performed the circumambulations: 'Your forgiveness! Your forgiveness!'; it is also said that this [last clause] refers to those oppressed believers among them, similar to where Allahu ta’ālā says Had they been clearly separated, verily We would have chastised the disbelievers among them with a painful chastisement [Q. 48:25].