Say thou unto those who have disbelieved: if they desist, that which is past shall be forgiven them, and if they return, then already gone forth is the dispensation of the ancients. 38 And fight them until there is no fitnah and [until] the religion, all of it, is for Allah. And if they cease - then indeed, Allah is Seeing of what they do. 39 But if they are obstinate, know that God is your helper and protector: How excellent a helper, and how excellent a protector is He! 40 ۞ And know that one fifth of whatever you take as spoils belong to Allah, the Messenger, kinsmen of the Messenger, the orphans, the needy, and the destitute traveler; if you believe in Allah and what We sent down to Our worshiper on the day of victory, the day when the two armies met. Allah has power over all things. 41 You were on the nearer side of the valley, and they were on the farther side, and the caravan was below you. Had you wished to set a time by mutual agreement, you would certainly have disagreed on the timing. However, the encounter took place, so that God might settle a matter which had already been ordained, so that he who was to perish might perish after clear evidence of the truth, and he who was to live might live in clear evidence of the truth. Surely, God is all hearing and all-knowing. 42 When God showed thee them in thy dream as few; and had He shown them as many you would have lost heart, and quarrelled about the matter; but God saved; He knows the thoughts in the breasts. 43 And recall what time He shewed them few in your eyes when ye met and lessened you in their eyes in order that Allah might decree an affair already enacted; and unto Allah are all affairs returned. 44