Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of The Glorious Koran. An Explanatory Translation (1930)
38. Tell those who disbelieve that if they cease (from persecution of believers) that which is past will be forgiven them; but if they return (thereto) then the example of the men of old hath already gone (before them, for a warning),
39. And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is all for Allah. But if they cease, then lo! Allah is Seer of what they do.
40. And if they turn away, then know that Allah is your Befriender — a transcendent Patron, a transcendent Helper!
41. And know that whatever ye take as spoils of war, lo! a fifth thereof is for Allah, and for the messenger 1 and for the kinsman (who hath need) and orphans and the needy and the wayfarer, if ye believe in Allah and that which We revealed unto Our slave on the Day of Discrimination, the day when the two armies met. And Allah is Able to do all things.
42. When ye were on the near bank (of the valley) and they were on the yonder bank, and the caravan was below you (on the coast plain). And had ye trysted to meet one another ye surely would have failed to keep the tryst, but (it happened, as it did, without the forethought of either of you) that Allah might conclude a thing that must be done; that he who perished (on that day) might perish by a clear proof (of His sovereignty) and he who survived might survive by a clear proof (of His sovereignty). Lo! Allah in truth is Hearer, Knower.
43. When Allah showed them unto thee (O Muhammad) in thy dream as few in number, and if He had shown them to thee as many, ye (Muslims) would have faltered and would have quarrelled over the affair. But Allah saved (you). Lo! He knoweth what is in the breasts (of men).
44. And when He made you (Muslims), when ye met (them), see them with your eyes as few, and lessened you in
1 i.e. for the State, to be used for the common weal.
