۞ 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 much booty that they will capture. Allah is ever Mighty, 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 other (victories and much booty there are, He promises you) which are not yet within your power, indeed Allah compasses them, And Allah is Ever Able to do all things. 21 If the Unbelievers should fight you, they would certainly turn their backs; then would they find neither protector nor helper. 22 That has been the Way of Allah already with those who passed away before. And you will not find any change in the Way of Allah. 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 These it was who disbelieved and debarred you from the Inviolable Place of Worship, and debarred the offering from reaching its goal. And if it had not been for believing men and believing women, whom ye know not - lest ye should tread them under foot and thus incur guilt for them unknowingly; that Allah might bring into His mercy whom He will - If (the believers and the disbelievers) had been clearly separated We verily had punished those of them who disbelieved with painful punishment. 25 And when the unbelievers established in their hearts fierce bigotry, the fierce bigotry of ignorance, Allah sent down His tranquility on His Messenger and the believers and firmly fastened to them the Word of 'taqwa' (there is no god except Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger, as it is the cause of righteousness) to which they have better right and are worthy of it. Allah has knowledge of all things. 26