It is not for the associators that they shall tend Allah's mosques, while giving evidence of infidelity against themselves. Those! vain shall be their works, and in the Fire they shall be abiders. 17 Only he shall inhabit God's places of worship who believes in God and the Last Day, and performs the prayer, and pays the alms, and fears none but God alone; it may be that those will be among the guided. 18 ۞ Do you regard giving water to pilgrims and tending the Sacred Mosque as being equal to the deeds of those who believe in God and the Last Day and who strive in God's path? They are not equal in the sight of God. God does not guide such unjust people. 19 Those who have believed and emigrated and have striven hard in the way of Allah with their riches and their lives are for higher in degree with Allah. Those! they are the achievers. 20 Their Lord gives them good news of mercy from Himself and (His) good pleasure and gardens, wherein lasting blessings shall be theirs; 21 The reward that God will bestow on His servants is the greatest. 22 Believers, do not take your fathers and your brothers for allies if they choose denial of truth in preference to faith. Those among you who ally themselves with them are wrongdoers. 23 Say, "If your fathers and your sons and your brothers and your spouses and your tribe, and the worldly goods which you have acquired, and the commerce which you fear will decline, and the homes you love are dearer to you than God and His Messenger and the struggle for His cause, then wait until God fulfills His decree. God does not guide the disobedient people." 24