O you who believe, be helpers of God, of His religion (a variant reading [of ansāran li’Llāhi] has the genitive annexation ansāra’Llāhi) just as said (kamā qāla to the end [of the statement] means ‘just as the disciples were so’, as is indicated by [what follows]) Jesus son of Mary to the disciples, ‘Who will be my helpers unto God?’, that is to say, who [of you] will be helpers alongside me turning to help God? The disciples said, ‘We will be God’s helpers!’ [These] al-hawāriyyūn [were] the intimates of Jesus, for they were the first to believe in him. They were twelve men of pure white complexion (hawar); but it is also said that [their epithet derives from the fact that] they were bleachers (qassārūn) who bleached (yuhawwirūna) clothes. So a group of the Children of Israel believed, in Jesus, saying: ‘He is [indeed] the servant of God, [who has been] raised to heaven’, while a group disbelieved, because they said that he was the son of God, whom He had raised unto Himself. Thus the two groups waged war against one another. Then We strengthened those who believed, of the two groups, against their enemy, the disbelieving groups, and so they became the triumphant, the victors.