مَا كَانَ لِلْمُشْرِكِينَ أَن يَعْمُرُوا مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ شَاهِدِينَ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِم بِالْكُفْرِ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ وَفِي النَّارِ هُمْ خَالِدُونَ (17)
(9:17) It does not behove the mushriks to become the guardians and servants of Allah's houses of worship, the while they themselves bear witness against themselves to their disbelief; *19 in fact, all their works have gone to waste *20 and they shall abide in the Fire for ever.
*19) This lays down the general principle for the guardianship of the places of worship that ave been built exclusively for the worship of Allah. Obviously, those people who associate thers with Allah in His essence, His rights and His powers cannot be the proper persons to be the guardians, the servants, the managers etc. of such sacred places. And when they themselves reject the invitations to Tauhid, and openly declare that they are not going to dedicate their worship and obedience exclusively o AIIah, they automatically forfeit any right they ad for the guardianship of such places of worship that had been built for the worship of Allah alone. Though the principle is of a general nature, it has been mentioned here with the particular object of removing the mushriks from the guardianship of the Ka`abah and Masjid-i-Haram and establishing permanently the guardianship of the worshippers of One God over them.
*20) ".........all their works have gone to waste.....", including the little real service they did to the `House of Allah' because they mixed with it shirk and other practices of ignorance. Their little good was destroyed by their far greater evils.