۞ Certainly was Allah pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you, [O Muhammad], under the tree, and He knew what was in their hearts, so He sent down tranquillity upon them and rewarded them with an imminent conquest 18 and many spoils to take; and God is ever All-mighty, All-wise. 19 Allah hath promised you abundant spoils that ye shall take, and these He hath hastened to you, and hath restrained the hands of people from you, that it may be a sign unto the believers, and that He may guide you to a straight path. 20 And there were (other spoils) which you were unable to take. Allah has encompassed it already, Allah is powerful over all things. 21 And if those [Makkans] who disbelieve had fought you, they would have turned their backs [in flight]. Then they would not find a protector or a helper. 22 Such is the way of Allah in days gone by, and you shall find no change in the ways of Allah. 23 It is He who kept peace between you and the people of the valley of Mecca after having given you a victory over them. God is Well Aware of what you do. 24 They are those who disbelieved and barred you from the Holy Mosque and the offering detained so as not to reach its place of sacrifice. If it had not been for certain believing men and certain believing women whom you did not know, you might have trampled upon them, and so sin reached you because of (killing) them while you did not know. In order that Allah admits into His Mercy whom He will, had they (the believers) been easy to distinguish, We would have punished the unbelievers among them with a painful punishment. 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