127 Preface لِيَقطَعَ طَرَفًا مِنَ الَّذينَ كَفَروا أَو يَكبِتَهُم فَيَنقَلِبوا خائِبينَYusuf AliThat He might cut off a fringe of the Unbelievers1 or expose them to infamy, and they should then be turned back, frustrated of their purpose.A fringe of the Unbelievers: an extremity, an end, either upper or lower. Here it may mean that the chiefs of the Meccan Pagans, who had come to exterminate the Muslims with such confidence, went back frustrated in their purpose. The shameless cruelty with which they and their women mutilated the Muslim corpses on the battlefield will stand recorded to their eternal infamy. Perhaps it also exposed their real nature to some of those who fought for them, e.g., Khalid ibn al Walid, who not only accepted Islam afterwards, but became one of the most notable champions of Islam. He was with the Muslims in the conquest of Mecca, and later on, won distinguished honours in Syria and Iraq.