۞ 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 Hence, [even if they have been wronged by slander,] let not those of you who have been graced with God's favour and ease of life ever become remiss in helping [the erring ones among] their near of kin, and the needy, and those who have forsaken the domain of evil for the sake of God, but let them pardon and forbear. [For,] do you not desire that God should forgive you your sins, seeing that God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace? 22 Those who slander chaste women, indiscreet but believing, are cursed in this life and in the Hereafter: for them is a grievous Penalty,- 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 God will pay them in full their just due, and they will come to know that God alone is the Ultimate Truth, manifest, and manifesting [the true nature of all that has ever been done]. 25 Unclean things are for unclean ones and unclean ones are for unclean things, and the good things are for good ones and the good ones are for good things; these are free from what they say; they shall have forgiveness and an honorable sustenance. 26