۞ 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 with abundant spoils which they shall acquire. Allah is Most Mighty, Most Wise. 19 Allah has promised you much booty that you will take [in the future] and has hastened for you this [victory] and withheld the hands of people from you - that it may be a sign for the believers and [that] He may guide you to a straight path. 20 And other (benefits) which you have not yet obtained, are within the compass of God, for God has power over everything. 21 And if those who disbelieve join battle with you they will take to flight, and afterward they will find no protecting friend nor helper. 22 [This is] the established way of Allah which has occurred before. And never will you find in the way of Allah any change. 23 It was He who restrained their hands from you and your hands from them in the hollow (Hudaibiah) of Mecca after He had given you victory over them. Allah sees the things 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 (This is why) when the unbelievers set in their hearts a fierce bigotry -- the bigotry of ignorance -- Allah bestowed inner peace upon His Messenger and upon the believers and made the word of piety binding on them. They were more deserving and worthier thereof. Allah has knowledge of everything. 26