۞ God was well pleased with the believers when they were swearing fealty to thee under the tree, and He knew what was in their hearts, so He sent down the Shechina upon them, and rewarded them with a nigh victory 18 And much war booty which they will take. And ever is Allah Exalted in Might and Wise. 19 God has promised you many future gains, and He has given you these in advance; and He has restrained the hands of men from harming you, so that it may be a sign for the believers, and so that He may guide you to a straight path. 20 And [He promises] other [victories] that you were [so far] unable to [realize] which Allah has already encompassed. And ever is Allah, over all things, competent. 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 Allah's Way that has come down from the past. Never shall you find any change in the Way of Allah. 23 And He it is Who held back their hands from you and your hands from them in the valley of Mecca after He had given you victory over them; and Allah is Seeing what you do. 24 They are the ones who disbelieved (in the Oneness of Allah Islamic Monotheism), and hindered you from Al-Masjid-al-Haram (the sacred mosque of Makkah) and the sacrificial animals, detained from reaching their place of sacrifice. Had there not been believing men and believing women whom you did not know, that you may kill them, and on whose account a sin would have been committed by you without (your) knowledge, that Allah might bring into His Mercy whom He will, if they (the believers and the disbelievers) should have been apart, We verily had punished those of them who disbelieved, with painful torment. 25 Since the disbelievers held zealous ignorance in their hearts, like that of the pre-Islamic age of darkness, God gave confidence to His Messenger and to the believers, binding them to the principle of piety which they deserve. God has the knowledge of all things. 26