۞ INDEED, well-pleased was God with the believers when they pledged their allegiance unto thee [O Muhammad] under that tree, for He knew what was in their hearts; and so He bestowed inner peace upon them from on high, and rewarded them with [the glad tiding of] a victory soon to come 18 and with many future gains -- God is mighty and wise. 19 God had promised you many spoils that you would capture; so He gave this soon enough to you, and stayed the hands of men from you that it may serve as a sign for believers, and 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 If the unbelievers had fought you they would have been put to flight, and found none to protect or help them. 22 This is the tradition of God which existed before, and you will never find any change in His tradition. 23 And it is He Who has restrained their hands from you and your hands from them in the midst of Makka, after that He gave you the victory over them. And Allah sees well all that ye 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 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