۞ 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 And let not those who possess dignity and ease among you swear not to give to the near of kin and to the needy, and to fugitives for the cause of Allah. Let them forgive and show indulgence. Yearn ye not that Allah may forgive you? Allah is Forgiving, 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 when their own tongues, hands and feet shall bear witness against them about what they did, 24 On that day Allah will pay them their just due, and they will know that Allah, He is the Manifest Truth. 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