۞ 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 Allah has promised you abundant spoils that you will capture, and He has hastened for you this, and He has restrained the hands of men from you, that it may be a sign for the believers, and that He may guide you to a Straight Path. 20 And others which you have not yet been able to achieve Allah has surely encompassed them, and Allah has power over 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 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 They are the ones who disbelieved and obstructed you from al-Masjid al-Haram while the offering was prevented from reaching its place of sacrifice. And if not for believing men and believing women whom you did not know - that you might trample them and there would befall you because of them dishonor without [your] knowledge - [you would have been permitted to enter Makkah]. [This was so] that Allah might admit to His mercy whom He willed. If they had been apart [from them], We would have punished those who disbelieved among them with painful punishment 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