۞ God was well pleased with the believers when they were swearing fealty to thee under the tree, and He knew what was in their hearts, so He sent down the Shechina upon them, and rewarded them with a nigh victory 18 And many acquisitions which they will take; and Allah is Mighty, Wise. 19 Allah has promised you much booty that you will take [in the future] and has hastened for you this [victory] and withheld the hands of people from you - that it may be a sign for the believers and [that] He may guide you to a straight path. 20 He also promises you other spoils which you have not yet taken, but Allah has encompassed them. Allah has power over everything. 21 Had the unbelievers fought you they would have turned their backs and not found a protector or helper. 22 (Such has been) the practice (approved) of Allah already in the past: no change wilt thou find in the practice (approved) of Allah. 23 It is He who restrained their hands from you, and your hands from them, in the hollow of Mecca, after that He made you victors over them. God sees the things you do. 24 It was the disbelievers who kept you from the Sacred Mosque and prevented your sacrificial offering from reaching its proper place. God would not have kept you from fighting the disbelievers, had there not been believing men and women (among them) whom you did not know and whom you might have unknowingly harmed. God did this because He grants mercy to whomever He wants. Had they been distinguishable from the believers, We would certainly have punished them with a painful torment. 25 When the unbelievers set in their hearts fierceness, the fierceness of pagandom, then God sent down His Shechina upon His Messenger and the believers, and fastened to them the word of godfearing to which they have better right and are worthy of; and God has' knowledge of everything. 26