۞ Believers, do not follow in the steps of satan, for those who follow the steps of satan, he bids to indecency and dishonor. But for the bounty of Allah to you, and His Mercy no one of you would ever have been purified; but Allah purifies whom He will; Allah is the Hearer, the Knower. 21 Hence, [even if they have been wronged by slander,] let not those of you who have been graced with God's favour and ease of life ever become remiss in helping [the erring ones among] their near of kin, and the needy, and those who have forsaken the domain of evil for the sake of God, but let them pardon and forbear. [For,] do you not desire that God should forgive you your sins, seeing that God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace? 22 [But,] verily, those who [falsely, and without repentance,] accuse chaste women who may have been unthinkingly careless but have remained true to their faith, shall be rejected [from God's grace] in this world as well as in the life to come: and awesome suffering awaits them 23 The day their tongues and hands and feet bear witness to what they had done, 24 God will pay them on that day their just due in full, and they will come to know that God is the tangible Reality. 25 Vile women are for vile men, and vile men are for vile women, and clean women are for clean men, and clean men are for clean women; these are quit of that which the people say: for them is forgiveness and a provision honoured. 26