And His saying: “Only those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, establish the prayer, pay the zakat, and fear none but Allah truly tend the mosques of Allah.”

(The rest of the verse reads): “It is such people who are expected to be among the rightly guided” (Qur’an 9:18).

“Only those who tend the mosques of Allah” means that their proper upkeep is achieved through worship and obedience.

“Those who believe in Allah …” refers to people who combine both theoretical and practical perfections.

“And fear none but Allah”: khashya denotes fear mingled with reverence. Here it is the reverent fear that leads to worship and obedience. Innate, instinctive fear—such as fear of worldly dangers—is part of human nature and few are entirely free of it; even then one should see the matter as Allah’s decree and disposal of affairs.

“So perhaps such people” refers to those adorned with these qualities.

“Will be among the rightly guided”: in reality they are the guided ones, for every occurrence of “perhaps” (ʿasā) from Allah is a certainty.

Overall meaning of the verse: After Allah denied the polytheists any role in spiritually maintaining the mosques through worship in the preceding verse, He affirms here that true maintenance belongs to the believers—those who believe with their hearts, act with their limbs, continually establish the prayer with all its pillars, obligations, and recommended acts, give the zakat to its rightful recipients, and devote their fear exclusively to Allah, a fear that is both awe and reverence.