۞ God was pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance to you under the tree, for He knew well what was in their hearts, and sent down tranquility on them, and rewarded them with an expeditious victory 18 And many gains will they acquire (besides): and Allah is Exalted in Power, Full of Wisdom. 19 God had promised you many spoils that you would capture; so He gave this soon enough to you, and stayed the hands of men from you that it may serve as a sign for believers, and guide you on the straight path; 20 And there are yet other [gains] which are still beyond your grasp, [but] which God has already encompassed [for you]: for God has the power to will anything. 21 If the unbelievers had fought you they would have been put to flight, and found none to protect or help them. 22 Such is Allah's Way that has come down from the past. Never shall you find any change in the Way of Allah. 23 And it is He Who restrained their hands from you, and your hands from them in the valley of Mecca, after having given you control over them; and Allah sees all what you do. 24 They are those who disbelieved and barred you from the Holy Mosque and the offering detained so as not to reach its place of sacrifice. If it had not been for certain believing men and certain believing women whom you did not know, you might have trampled upon them, and so sin reached you because of (killing) them while you did not know. In order that Allah admits into His Mercy whom He will, had they (the believers) been easy to distinguish, We would have punished the unbelievers among them with a painful punishment. 25 Since the disbelievers held zealous ignorance in their hearts, like that of the pre-Islamic age of darkness, God gave confidence to His Messenger and to the believers, binding them to the principle of piety which they deserve. God has the knowledge of all things. 26