1. Truly We have granted you a clear victory: the conquest of Makka and other places in the future by jihad.

2. …so that Allah may forgive you – because of your jihad – your earlier errors and any later ones – this was in order to encourage the Muslims and to make them desire to fight jihad, and is also interpreted as referring to the immunity of the Prophets, peace and blessings be upon them, from wrong actions, and complete His blessing upon you by the conquest, and guide you on a Straight Path – to establish you firmly on the path of Allah, which is the dın of Islam.

3. …and so that Allah may help you with a mighty help in which there is no abasement.

4. It is He who sent down serenity into the hearts of the believers, thereby increasing their belief with more belief in the laws of the din. Whenever one of the laws was revealed, they believed in it. One such law was the command to fight jihad. The legions of the heavens and the earth belong to Allah. If Allah had wished to help His din, He could have done so without any need for your support. Allah is All-Knowing of His creation, All-Wise in what He does, and that will always be the case –

5. …so that through jihad He may admit the men and women of the believers into Gardens with rivers flowing under them, to remain in them timelessly, for ever, and erase their bad actions from them; and in Allah’s sight that is a mighty victory;

6. …and so that He may punish the men and women of the hypocrites and the men and women of the idolators – those who think bad (read as saw’ and su’) thoughts about Allah. They think that Allah will not help Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the believers. They will suffer an evil turn of fate – by abasement and punishment. Allah is angry with them, and has cursed them by distancing them from His mercy and prepared Hell for them. What an evil destination!

7. The legions of the heavens and the earth belong to Allah. Allah is Almighty in His kingdom, All-Wise in what He does.

8. We have sent you bearing witness against your community at the Resurrection, bringing good news to them in this world, and giving warning to them about the Fire on account of their evil deeds …

9. …so that you may all believe (read as tu’minu and also yu’minu, “they might believe”) in Allah and His Messenger and honour (read as tu‘ azziruhu and yu‘ azziruhu) Him, and respect (read as tuwaqqiruhu and yuwaqqiruhu) Him, and glorify Him in the morning and the evening.

10. Those who pledge you their allegiance in the Homage of Ridwan at Hudaybiyya pledge allegiance to Allah Himself. This ayat is similar to “Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah.” (4:80) Allah’s hand is over their hands – the hands with which they gave allegiance to the Prophet. This means that Allah Almighty is looking at their allegiance and will reward them for it. He who breaks his pledge of allegiance only breaks it against himself and will experience the evil effects of that. But to him who fulfils the contract he has made with Allah, He (read as yu’tihi, also read nu’tihi, “We will pay him”) will pay an immense reward.

11. Those desert Arabs around Madina who remained behind – those whom Allah kept from accompanying the Prophet when he asked them to go out with him, to Makka but they were afraid that Quraysh would confront him in the Year of al-Hudaybiyya – will say to you when he returns from there: ‘Our wealth and families kept us occupied so that they did not go out with him, so ask forgiveness of Allah for us for their not going out with him.’ Allah says, to refute what they say: They say with their tongues, in asking for forgiveness and the rest, what is not in their hearts. They are lying in their excuses. Say: ‘Who can control Allah for you in any way, whether He wants harm (read as darr and durr) for you or wants benefit for you?’ Allah is aware of what you do.

12. No! The preposition bal used here and many other places is employed to show a contrast with what has preceded. You thought that the Messenger and the believers were not going to return to their families, and that seemed pleasing to your hearts – they wanted the Messenger and the believers to be eliminated by being killed, so that they would not return. and You thought evil thoughts – this and other things – and you were a blighted people – destroyed in the sight of Allah for thinking this.

13. Whoever does not believe in Allah and His Messenger, We have prepared a fiercely Blazing Fire for the unbelievers.

14. The kingdom of the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah. He forgives those He wills and punishes those He wills. Allah is Ever Forgiving, Most Merciful. He is always described in this way.

15. When you go out to get the booty of Khaybar, those who remained behind will say, ‘Allow us to follow you so that we may get some of the booty,’ desiring to alter Allah’s words (read as kalam and kalim) – the promise of Allah about the booty of Khaybar being especially for the people who had been at Hudaybiyya. Say: ‘You may not follow us. That is what Allah said before our return.’ They will say, ‘It is only because you envy us, causing you not to want to give us anything from the portions which you have of the booty.’ No indeed! How little they have understood about the din!

16. Say to the Arabs – mentioned above – who remained behind: ‘You will be called up against a people who possess great force – this is said to be a reference to the Banu Hanifa, the people of Yamama, or Persia and the Romans – whom you must fight unless they submit. Then you do not fight them. If you obey and fight, Allah will give you an excellent reward. But if you turn your backs as you did before, He will punish you with a painful punishment.’

17. There is no constraint on the blind, nor on the lame, nor on the sick – nothing held against these categories for not doing jihad. He will admit (read as yudkhilhu and nudkhilhu, “We will admit”) all who obey Allah and His Messenger into Gardens with rivers flowing under them. But He will punish (read as yu‘ adhdhibu and nu‘adhdhibu, “We will punish”) with a painful punishment anyone who turns his back.

18. Allah was pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you under the tree at Hudaybiyya. It was an acacia tree. They numbered 1300 or more. They gave allegiance on the basis that they would fight Quraysh and would not flee from death. He (Allah) knew what was in their hearts by way of truthfulness and fidelity and sent down serenity to them, and has rewarded them with an imminent victory – and the imminent victory was at Khaybar after they had left Hudaybiyya –

19. … and with much booty which they will take at Khaybar. Allah is Almighty, All-Wise.

20. Allah has promised you much booty which you will take in conquests, and has hastened this booty at Khaybar for you and held people’s hands back from you – from harming your families, when you set out after the Jews plotted against you; but Allah cast fear into their hearts – so that it (its imminence) might be a Sign to the believers – so they could be thankful for victory – and so that He might guide you in victory to a straight path – the path of reliance on Him and entrusting your affairs to Him.

21. And other booty – meaning the wealth of the Persians and Byzantines – which you do not yet have the power to take – Allah has already encompassed it in knowledge and knows that you will take it. Allah has power over all things.

22. If those who disbelieved at Hudaybiyya should fight you, they would turn their backs and then find no one to protect or help them.

23. That is Allah’s pattern which has passed away before – meaning defeat for the unbelievers and victory for the believers; you will not find any changing in the pattern of Allah.

24. It is He who held their hands back from you, and your hands from them in the valley of Makka – at Hudaybiyya – after giving you the upper hand over them. Eight of them went around your army to get at you and they were captured and brought to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who pardoned them and let them go. That was the reason for the truce. Allah sees what you do (read as ta‘maluna, and ya‘maluna, “what they do”).

25. They are those who disbelieved and debarred you from al- Masjid al-haram – and prevented you from reaching it – and prevented the sacrifice – the sacrificial camels – from reaching its proper place where they are normally sacrificed within the confines of the Haram. Had it not been for some men and women who are believers – who were still in Makka with the unbelievers – whom you did not know – of whose belief you are unaware – and might trample underfoot – you might slay them together with the unbelievers if you were given permission to conquer it – and so unknowingly incur blame on their account for the sin of killing them – so that Allah might admit into His mercy those He wills – such as those believers – and had those among them (the people of Makka) who disbelieve been clearly distinguishable from the believers We would have punished them with a painful punishment by allowing you to conquer it.

26. Those who disbelieve filled their hearts with fanatical rage (stubborn unbelief) – the fanatical rage of the Time of Ignorance – which was demonstrated by their barring the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Companions from al-Masjid al-haram, and by other things; and Allah sent down serenity upon His Messenger and to the believers – and they made peace with them on the basis that they could return the following year, and rage did not affect them as it did the unbelievers, causing the latter to fight them – and bound them (the believers) to the expression of godfearing – the statement: ‘There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’, which is connected to being godfearing because it is the reason for it – which they had most right to and were most entitled to. They were more entitled to make that statement than the unbelievers. Allah has knowledge of all things. Allah always has knowledge of all things, and part of Allah’s knowledge is that they were the most entitled to it.

27. Allah has confirmed His Messenger’s vision with truth. In the year of al-Hudaybiyya, before he set out, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had a dream that he and his Companions would enter Makka in safety, shaving their heads and cutting their hair short. He told his Companions about it, and they were filled with joy. When the unbelievers blocked them at al-Hudaybiyya and they had to turn back, that was hard for them and some of the hypocrites expressed their doubts. Then this was revealed – ‘You will enter al-Masjid al-haram in safety, Allah willing – mentioned for the blessing of it and confirming Allah’s hand in it, shaving some of your heads completely and some of you merely cutting your hair, without any fear.’ He knew what you did not know about the benefits of this truce and ordained, in place of this thwarted entry into Makka, an imminent victory – the conquest of Khaybar and the realisation of the Prophet’s vision in the following year.

28. It is He who sent His Messenger with the Guidance and the Din of Truth to exalt it over every other din; and Allah suffices as a witness that you have been sent with what has been mentioned.

29. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him – his Companions among the believers – are fierce to the unbelievers, and do not show mercy to them, merciful to one another – gentle with one another, and showing mutual love as between parents and their children. You see them bowing and prostrating, seeking Allah’s good favour and His pleasure. Their mark is on their faces – light and brightness by which they will be recognised in the Next World since they prostrated themselves in this world – the traces of prostration. That is their likeness and description in the Torah. And their likeness in the Gospel is that of a seed which puts up a shoot (read as shat’a and shata’a) and makes it strong (read as fa-aazzarahu and fa-azzarahu) so that it thickens and grows up straight upon its stalk, filling the sowers with delight: when farmers see their crops like this, they are delighted by them because of their beauty. The Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, are likened to that because they began as a few and then became many, and were strong in the best human qualities – so that by them He may infuriate the unbelievers. The unbelievers are enraged that the believers are like that. Allah has promised those of them who believe and do right actions – the Companions who are like that – forgiveness and an immense reward. Those who are like that after them will also receive the same