Surah 48. Al-Fath, Ayah 25

Thus Zamakhshari, supported by Razi, Ibn Kathir, and other commentators.

I.e., so that the believers might be spared, and that in time many a pagan Meccan might embrace Islam, as actually happened.

Lit., "had they been separated from one another": i.e., the believers and the pagans among the Meccans. In its wider sense, the above implies that man never really knows whether another human being deserves God's grace or condemnation.

I.e., the Ka'bah, which, until the year 7 H., the Muslims were not allowed to approach.

This interpolation is based on Razi's explanation of the connection between this and the preceding verse.

See surah {2}, note [175].

I.e., killed. After the Prophet's and his followers' exodus to Medina, a number of Meccans both men and women - had embraced Islam, but had been prevented by the pagan Quraysh from emigrating (Tabari, Zamakhshari). Their identities were not generally known to the Muslims of Medina.

 The animals that Muslims had brought along to be sacrificed after completing the rituals of the minor pilgrimage (’umrah).

 By doing so, the Meccan Muslims who were unknown to their fellow believers were safe, along with the pagans who later accepted Islam.

The Muslims from Madinah had brought the animals for sacrifice with them, and had put on the Ihram or pilgrim's garb (see n. 217 to ii. 197), but they were not only prevented from entering Makkah, but were also prevented from sending the sacrificial animals to the place of sacrifice in Makkah, as they could have done under ii. 196. The sacrifice was therefore actually offered at Hudaibiya.

There were at the time in Makkah believing Muslims, men and women, and the faith of some of them was unknown to their brethren from Madinah. Had a fight taken place in Makkah, even though the Muslims had been successful, they would unwittingly have killed some of these unknown Muslims, and thus would unwittingly have been guilty of shedding Muslim blood. This was prevented by the Treaty.

Allah works according to His wise and holy Will and Plan, and not according to what seems to us, in the excitement of human life, to be the obvious course of things. By preventing a fight He saved many valuable lives, not only of Muslims but also of some who became Muslims afterwards and served Islam. He grants His Mercy on far higher standards than man in his limited horizon can see.

If the party from Madinah could have distinguished Muslims from non-Muslims among the Makkans, they might have been allowed to enter and punish the pagan Quraish for their inordinate vanity and gross breach of the unwritten law of the land. But in the actual circumstances the best solution was the Treaty of Hudaibiya.