۞ 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 [of] many war-gains which they would achieve: for God is indeed almighty, wise. 19 God has promised you many future gains, and He has given you these in advance; and He has restrained the hands of men from harming you, so that it may be a sign for the believers, and so that He may guide you to a straight path. 20 and other spoils you were not able to take; God had encompassed them already. God is powerful over everything. 21 And had those who disbelieve fought against you, surely they would have turned their backs, and then they would have found no patron nor helper. 22 Such is Allah's Way that has come down from the past. Never shall you find any change in the Way of Allah. 23 And He it is Who hath withheld men's hands from you, and hath withheld your hands from them, in the valley of Mecca, after He had made you victors over them. Allah is Seer of what ye do. 24 It was these who disbelieved and prevented you from the Sacred Mosque, and stopped the sacrificial animals from reaching their place; and were it not for some Muslim men and Muslim women, whom you do not know – lest you may crush them and unintentionally incur some violation due to them – Allah would have permitted you to slay them; this relief for them, is so that Allah may admit into His mercy whomever He wills; and had they been separated, We would have indeed punished the disbelievers among them with a painful punishment. 25 While those who deny the truth made it a prestige issue [in their hearts], the bigotry of the days of ignorance, God sent His tranquillity down on to His Messenger and believers and firmly established in them the principle of righteousness, for they were indeed better entitled to it and more worthy of it. God has full knowledge of all things. 26