۞ 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 many spoils to take; and God is ever All-mighty, All-wise. 19 Allah has promised that you take many spoils. He has hastened this to you, and restrained the hands of people from you so that He makes it a sign to the believers and to guide you on a Straight Path. 20 And one more, not within your capacity, is within Allah’s hold; and Allah is Able to do all things. 21 And if those who disbelieve fight against you, they certainly would have turned their backs, then they would have found neither a Wali (protector) nor a helper. 22 The tradition of Allah, ongoing since before; and you will not find the tradition of Allah changing. 23 It was He who restrained their hands from you in the heart of Makkah, and your hands from them, after He had given you victory over them, as God sees all that you do. 24 They are the ones who disbelieved and barred you from the Inviolable Mosque and prevented the animals you had designated for sacrifice from reaching the place of their offering. If it had not been for the believing men and believing women (who lived in Makkah and) whom you did not know, and had there not been the fear that you might trample on them and unwittingly incur blame on their account, (then fighting would not have been put to a stop. It was stopped so that) Allah may admit to His Mercy whomsoever He pleases. Had those believers been separated from the rest, We would certainly have inflicted a grievous chastise-ment on those of them [i.e. the Makkans) who disbelieved. 25 When the unbelievers fostered a sense of honour in their hearts, a sense of pagan honour, God sent down a sense of tranquility on His Apostle and the believers, and obliged them to an act of self-restraint, for they were deserving and worthy of it. God is cognisant of everything. 26