The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

a
Loyalty was pledged by everybody placing their right hands on top of the Prophet’s.
Triumph
335
48: 20

---

hastened this gain for you. He has held back the hands of hostile
people from you as a sign for the faithful and He will guide you to a
straight path. 
21There are many other gains [to come], over which
you have no power. God has full control over them: God has power
over all things.
22If the disbelievers had fought against you, they would have
taken
flight and found no one to protect or support them: 23such was
God’s practice in the past and you will 
find no change in God’s
practices. 
24In the valley of Mecca it was He who held their hands
back from you and your hands back from them after He gave you
the advantage over them
a
–– God sees all that you do. 
25They were
the ones who disbelieved, who barred you from the Sacred Mosque,
and who prevented the o
ffering from reaching its place of sacrifice. If
there had not been among them, unknown to you, believing men and
women whom you would have trampled underfoot, inadvertently
incurring guilt on their account –
– God brings whoever He will into
His mercy –
– if the [believers] had been clearly separated, We would
have in
flicted a painful punishment on the disbelievers. 26While the
disbelievers had fury in their hearts –
– the fury of ignorance –
– God
sent His tranquillity down on to His Messenger and the believers
and made binding on them [their] promise to obey God,
b
for that
was more appropriate and 
fitting for them. God has full knowledge
of all things.
27God has truly fulfilled His Messenger’s vision: ‘God willing,
you will most certainly enter the Sacred Mosque in safety, shaven-
headed or with cropped hair,
c
without fear!’–
– God knew what you
did not –
– and He has granted you a speedy triumph. 
28It was He who
sent His Messenger, with guidance and the religion of Truth, for him
to show that it is above all [false] religion. God su
ffices as a witness:
29Muhammad is the Messenger of God.
Those who follow him are harsh towards the disbelievers and
compassionate towards each other. You see them kneeling and
prostrating, seeking God’s bounty and His good pleasure: on their
faces they bear the marks of their prostrations. This is how they are
pictured in the Torah and the Gospel: like a seed that puts forth its
a
A detachment of eighty Meccan 
fighters attacked the Prophet’s camp but were
captured. The Prophet released them after the treaty was signed.
b
The promise they made under the tree at Hudaybiyya (see verse 
18).
c
These are some of the 
final rites of pilgrimage.
The Qur
an
48: 21
336

---

shoot, becomes strong, grows thick, and rises on its stem to the
delight of its sowers. So God infuriates the disbelievers through
them; God promises forgiveness and a great reward to those who
believe and do righteous deeds.
Triumph
337
48: 29

---

49. THE PRIVATE ROOMS
This Medinan sura takes its title from the reference to the Prophet’s private
rooms in verse 
4. It guides the believers on how to behave with proper respect
towards their leader (verses 
1–5), and with mutual respect and trust towards
each other (verses