Furthermore, Allah put the people to this ordeal so that He might reward the truthful for their truthfulness—those who remained firm (1) and patient, ready to support Allah and His Messenger—and so that He might punish the hypocrites if He wills, or turn to them in mercy.

We ask Allah to grant repentance to many of these censured individuals (2), for some of them have already felt remorse. Allah, exalted be He, accepts repentance from His servants and pardons evil deeds. Indeed, “Allah has opened for repentance a gate on the western side whose width is forty years; it will not be closed until the sun rises from that side.” (3)

The scholars of the Prophetic campaigns—among them Ibn Isḥāq—have related ⦗65⦘ that during the Battle of the Trench the Prophet ﷺ said, “From now on we shall attack them and they will not attack us.” (4) Thereafter neither Quraysh, nor Ghatafān, nor the Jews ever raided the Muslims again (5); rather, the Muslims advanced against them, conquering Khaybar (6) and, later, Mecca.

Likewise, God willing, these present-day confederates—the Mongols, the various Turkic peoples, the Persians, the pseudo-Arabs, the Christians, and others who have strayed from the Sharia