and their zealotry consisted in their refusing to acknowledge that he was the Prophet of Allah, refusing to accept “In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful,” and barring him from the House (1).

Allah, Exalted is He, said: “It was they who disbelieved”—meaning the disbelievers of Makkah—“and barred you from al-Masjid al-Haram,” that is, from circumambulating it, “and prevented the sacrificial animals”—that is, they prevented the sacrificial animals, namely the seventy camels which the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, had driven forth as offerings—“from reaching their place of sacrifice,” meaning, held back and confined. One says, “I confined it,” when one restrains it; while the verbal noun for remaining in confinement is also used, just as one says both “returning” and “return.” “From reaching their place of sacrifice” means the place where they were to be slaughtered, namely the Sanctuary. “Had there not been believing men and believing women”—meaning the oppressed believers in Makkah—“whom you did not know,” that is, whom you did not recognize, “whom you might have trampled”—by killing them and inflicting harm upon them—“and thus incur blame from them without knowledge.” Ibn Zayd said: “Blame” means sin. Ibn Ishaq said: It means liability for blood money.

It was also said that it means expiation, because Allah, Exalted is He, has made expiation obligatory upon one who kills a believer in enemy territory without knowing that he is a believer, but not blood money. He said: “But if he was from a people hostile to you and was a believer, then the freeing of a believing slave is required” (al-Nisa 4:92).

It was also said that it means that the polytheists would disparage you and say, “They have killed the people of their own religion.” Blame also means hardship. In other words: Were it not for your possibly trampling believing men and women whom you did not know, thereby becoming liable to offer expiation for them or incurring reproach, you would have been permitted to enter it; but He prevented you from doing so.

“So that Allah may admit into His mercy whomever He wills”: the particle in “so that Allah may admit” is connected to an omitted expression indicated by the meaning of the passage. That is, He prevented you from doing so so that Allah might admit into His mercy—into the religion of Islam—whomever He willed among the people of Makkah after the truce and before you entered it. “Had they been separated”—that is, had the believers become distinct from the disbelievers—“We would certainly have punished those who disbelieved among them with a painful punishment,” through captivity and killing at your hands.