(25) “Indeed, those who disbelieve and bar others from the path of Allah and from the Sacred Mosque—which We have made equally accessible to all people, residents and visitors alike—and whoever intends therein any deviation through wrongdoing, We shall make him taste a painful punishment.”

The Most High relates the heinous conduct of the polytheists who disbelieve in their Lord. They combined disbelief in Allah and His Messenger with barring others from the path of Allah and preventing people from believing. They also barred people from the Sacred Mosque, which belongs neither to them nor to their forefathers; rather, all people have an equal right to it, whether residents or visitors. Indeed, they barred from it the best of creation, Muhammad, and his Companions, even though the Sacred Mosque is so inviolable, revered, and exalted that whoever intends therein any deviation through wrongdoing will be made to taste a painful punishment.

Thus, merely intending wrongdoing and deviation within the Sacred Precinct incurs punishment, whereas elsewhere a servant is not punished for such an intention unless he actually commits the wrongdoing. What, then, of those who perpetrate therein the gravest wrongdoing—disbelief and polytheism, barring others from His path, and preventing those who wish to visit it? What do you think (1) Allah will do to them?”