(24–25) “He is the One Who restrained their hands from you and your hands from them within Mecca after He had enabled you to prevail over them. And Allah is All-Seeing of what you do. * They are the ones who disbelieved and barred you from the Sacred Mosque, and detained the sacrificial animals from reaching their place of sacrifice. Had it not been for believing men and believing women unknown to you, whom you might have trampled and thereby incurred harm on their account without knowing it—so that Allah may admit into His mercy whomever He wills—We would have allowed you to fight. Had they been separated, We would certainly have subjected the disbelievers among them to a painful punishment.”
Allah says, reminding His servants of His favor in sparing them from the evil of the disbelievers and from fighting them: “He is the One Who restrained their hands”—meaning the hands of the people of Mecca—“from you and your hands from them within Mecca after He had enabled you to prevail over them”; that is, after you had gained power over them and they had come under your authority without any pact or covenant. They were approximately eighty men who descended upon the Muslims, seeking to catch them unawares. They found the Muslims alert, however, and the Muslims seized them, then released them without killing them. This was a mercy from Allah to the believers, as they did not kill them. “And Allah is All-Seeing of what you do”: He recompenses every person according to his deeds and directs your affairs, O believers, through His excellent governance.
Allah then mentioned the matters that would have provoked fighting against the polytheists: their disbelief in Allah and His Messenger, and their barring the Messenger of Allah and the believers with him from coming to the Sacred House as visitors, revering it by performing hajj and umrah. They were also the ones who kept “the sacrificial animals detained,” meaning confined, “from reaching their place of sacrifice,” which was Mecca. They wrongfully and aggressively prevented them from reaching it. All these matters warranted and called for fighting them. Yet there was an impediment: believing men and women were living among the polytheists, without being set apart in a district or location where they could be spared harm.
Were it not for those believing men and women, whom the Muslims did not know—“lest you trample them,” that is, for fear that you might trample them—“and thereby incur harm on their account without knowing it.” This harm refers to what fighting the polytheists would entail: those believers being afflicted with injury and suffering. There was also a benefit pertaining to the Hereafter: “so that Allah may admit into His mercy whomever He wills,” by favoring them with faith after disbelief and guidance after misguidance. He therefore kept you from fighting them for this reason.
“Had they been separated,” meaning had they withdrawn from among the polytheists, “We would certainly have subjected the disbelievers among them to a painful punishment,” by making it lawful for you to fight them, granting you permission to do so, and giving you victory over them.