The Quran

251

فَهَزَموهُم بِإِذنِ اللَّهِ وَقَتَلَ داوودُ جالوتَ وَآتاهُ اللَّهُ المُلكَ وَالحِكمَةَ وَعَلَّمَهُ مِمّا يَشاءُ ۗ وَلَولا دَفعُ اللَّهِ النّاسَ بَعضَهُم بِبَعضٍ لَفَسَدَتِ الأَرضُ وَلٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ ذو فَضلٍ عَلَى العالَمينَ

Muhammad Asad

And thereupon, by God's leave, they routed them. And David slew Goliath; and God bestowed upon him dominion, and wisdom, and imparted to him the knowledge of whatever He willed.And if God had not enabled people to defend themselves against one another,¹ corruption would surely overwhelm the earth: but God is limitless in His bounty unto all the worlds.

Lit., "were it not that God repels some people by means of others": an elliptic reference to God's enabling people to defend themselves against aggression or oppression. Exactly the same phrase occurs in 22:40, which deals with fighting in self-defence.