۞ O ye who believe! follow not Satan's footsteps: if any will follow the footsteps of Satan, he will (but) command what is shameful and wrong: and were it not for the grace and mercy of Allah on you, not one of you would ever have been pure: but Allah doth purify whom He pleases: and Allah is One Who hears and knows (all things). 21 Let not those of you who possess bounty and plenty swear off giving kinsmen and the poor and those who emigrate in the way of God; but let them pardon and forgive. Do you not wish that God should forgive you? God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate. 22 Surely, those who defame chaste, unsuspecting, believing women, shall be cursed in this world and in the Everlasting Life, and for them there is a mighty punishment. 23 on the Day when their own tongues and hands and feet will bear witness against them by [recalling] all that they did! 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