It is not for the polytheists to maintain the mosques of Allah [while] witnessing against themselves with disbelief. [For] those, their deeds have become worthless, and in the Fire they will abide eternally. 17 Only those who believe in God and the Last Day, who fulfil their devotional obligations, pay the zakat, and fear no one but God, can visit the mosques of God. They may hope to be among the guided. 18 ۞ Do you consider providing water to the Pilgrims and tending the Sacred Mosque equal in worth to believing in Allah and the Last Day and striving in the cause of Allah? The two are not equal with Allah. Allah does not direct the wrong-doing folk to the Right Way. 19 The higher rank with Allah is for those who believed and migrated and strove in His cause with their belongings and their persons. It is they who are triumphant. 20 Their Lord gives them glad tidings of mercy from Him and of His good pleasure. For them await Gardens of eternal bliss. 21 The reward that God will bestow on His servants is the greatest. 22 O ye who believe! take not for protectors your fathers and your brothers if they love infidelity above Faith: if any of you do so, they do wrong. 23 Say: "If your fathers and your sons and your brothers and your spouses and your clan, and the worldly goods which you have acquired, and the commerce whereof you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you take pleasure - [if all these] are dearer to you than God and His Apostle and the struggle in His cause, then wait until God makes manifest His will; and [know that] God does not grace iniquitous folk with His guidance." 24