۞ God was pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance to you [Prophet] under the tree: He knew what was in their hearts and so He sent tranquillity down to them and rewarded them with a victory near at hand 18 And the many spoils that they were to take. God is all-mighty and all-wise. 19 Allah has promised you abundant spoils which you shall acquire. He has instantly granted you this (victory) and has restrained the hands of people from you that it may be a Sign for the believers and He may guide you to a Straight Way. 20 And [He promises] other [victories] that you were [so far] unable to [realize] which Allah has already encompassed. And ever is Allah, over all things, competent. 21 And if those who disbelieve join battle with you they will take to flight, and afterward they will find no protecting friend nor helper. 22 such was the law of God in the past; and you shall find no change in the law of God. 23 He it is Who restrained their hands from you, and your hands from them in the valley of Makkah, even though He had made you victorious against them. Allah was watching all that you did. 24 It were those who disbelieved who hindered you from (going to) the Holy Mosque, preventing your offerings from arriving at the place of sacrifice. Had it not been for (the presence of) believers, men and women, (among the unbelievers) of whom you were unaware, and whom you might have trampled and thus incurred guilt unknowingly on account of them, (the matter would have been settled). (But this was not done) so that God may admit into His favour whom He willed. If these (believers) had been separated from them, He would have inflicted a grievous punishment on the unbelievers. 25 Whereas they who are bent on denying the truth harboured a stubborn disdain in their hearts - the stubborn disdain [born] of ignorance - God bestowed from on high His [gift of] inner peace upon His Apostle and the believers, and bound them to the spirit of God-consciousness: for they were most worthy of this [divine gift,] and deserved it well. And God has full knowledge of all things. 26