It is not for the idolaters to tend Allah's sanctuaries, bearing witness against themselves of disbelief. As for such, their works are vain and in the Fire they will abide. 17 The mosques of Allah are only to be maintained by those who believe in Allah and the Last Day and establish prayer and give zakah and do not fear except Allah, for it is expected that those will be of the [rightly] guided. 18 ۞ Do you (pagans), because you served water to the pilgrims and constructed the Sacred Mosque, consider yourselves equal to those who have believed in God, the Day of Judgment, and have fought for the cause of God? In the sight of God you (pagans) are not equal to the believers. God does not guide the unjust. 19 Those who believe, and who have forsaken the domain of evil and have striven hard in God's cause with their possessions and their lives have the highest rank in the sight of God; and it is they, they who shall triumph [in the end]! 20 Their Lord will give the glad news of His granting mercy to them, His pleasure, and His admitting them to a Paradise full of everlasting bounties wherein they will live forever. 21 Which they will enjoy for ever. Indeed God has greater rewards with Him. 22 Believers, do not take your fathers and your brothers for your allies if they choose unbelief in preference to belief. Whosoever of you takes them as allies those are wrong-doers. 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