۞ Allah was well pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance unto thee beneath the tree, and He knew what was in their hearts, and He sent down peace of reassurance on them, and hath rewarded them with a near victory; 18 and they took many spoils, and Allah is the Almighty, and the Wise. 19 Allah has promised you many gains that ye shall acquire, and He has given you these beforehand; and He has restrained the hands of men from you; that it may be a Sign for the Believers, and that He may guide you to a Straight Path; 20 And other (gain), which ye have not been able to achieve, Allah will compass it, Allah is Able to do all things. 21 Had the unbelievers fought against you at that time, they would have turned their backs (in flight), and would have found none to protect or help them. 22 such being God's way which has ever obtained in the past - and never wilt thou find any change in God's way! 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 were those who disbelieved, and hindered you from the Sacred Mosque, and hindered the detained offering that it should arrive at the goal thereof. And had it not been for believing men and believing women whom ye knew not, and that ye might have trampled on them, and thus there might have befallen you crime on their account unwittingly. But this He did that He might bring into His mercy whomsoever He will. Had they been distinguished one from another, surely We had tormented those who disbelieved among them with a torment afflictive. 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