لَوْلَاۤ

اِذْ

سَمِعْتُمُوْهُ

ظَنَّ

الْمُؤْمِنُوْنَ

وَالْمُؤْمِنٰتُ

بِاَنْفُسِهِمْ

خَیْرًا ۙ

وَّقَالُوْا

هٰذَاۤ

اِفْكٌ

مُّبِیْنٌ

۟

Why - when you (O believers) heard of it - did the believing men and the believing women not think well about their own selves, and (why did they not) say, “This is a manifest lie”.

Why did they (the accusers) not bring four witnesses to prove this? So, as they did not bring the witnesses, they are the liars in the sight of Allah.

Had it not been for the grace of Allah upon you, and His mercy in this world and in the Hereafter, a severe punishment would have reached you for what you indulged in -

when you were welcoming it with your tongues, and were saying with your mouths something of which you had no knowledge, and were taking it as a trivial matter, while in the sight of Allah it was grave.

And why, when you heard of it, did you not say, “It is not for us to speak about this. Pure are You (O Allah). This is a terrible calumny.”

Allah admonishes you never to repeat something like this, if you are believers.