۞ Indeed Allah was truly pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance to you beneath the tree – so He knew what was in their hearts – He therefore sent down peace upon them, and rewarded them with an imminent victory. 18 And plenty of war booty, to take; and Allah is Most Honourable, Wise. 19 Allah has promised you plenty of booty which you will take, and has bestowed this to you quickly, and restrained peoples’ hands from you; and in order that it may be a sign for the believers, and to guide you on the 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 [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 That hath been the dispensation of Allah with those who passed away aforetime; and thou shalt not find in the dispensation of Allah any change. 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 It was the disbelievers who kept you from the Sacred Mosque and prevented your sacrificial offering from reaching its proper place. God would not have kept you from fighting the disbelievers, had there not been believing men and women (among them) whom you did not know and whom you might have unknowingly harmed. God did this because He grants mercy to whomever He wants. Had they been distinguishable from the believers, We would certainly have punished them with a painful torment. 25 When those who disbelieved harbored in their hearts (feelings of) disdain, the disdain of (the days of) ignorance, but Allah sent down His tranquillity on His Apostle and on the believers, and made them keep the word of guarding (against evil), and they were entitled to it and worthy of it; and Allah is Cognizant of all things. 26