۞ Believers, do not follow the footsteps of satan; whoever does so will be made by satan to commit indecency and sin. Were it not for the favor and mercy of God, none of you would ever have been purified. God purifies whomever He wants. God is All-hearing and All-knowing. 21 Those among you, who are bountiful and persons of means, should not swear on oath that they would withhold their help from their relatives, the indigent and those who have left their homes for the cause of Allah: they should forgive and forbear. Do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? and Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. 22 Those who charge with slander those Believing women, who are chaste but simple souls, are accursed in this world and in the Hereafter: there is a great punishment for them. 23 On the Day whereon their tongues and their hands and their feet will bear witness against them regarding that which they were wont to work. 24 On that Day Allah shall pay them in full their recompense, and they shall know that Allah! He is the True, the Manifest. 25 [In the nature of things,] corrupt women are for corrupt men, and corrupt men, for corrupt women - just as good women are for good men, and good men, for good women. [Since God is aware that] these are innocent of all that evil tongues may impute to them, forgiveness of sins shall be theirs, and a most excellent sustenance! 26