The Quran

Preface

هُمُ الَّذينَ كَفَروا وَصَدّوكُم عَنِ المَسجِدِ الحَرامِ وَالهَديَ مَعكوفًا أَن يَبلُغَ مَحِلَّهُ ۚ وَلَولا رِجالٌ مُؤمِنونَ وَنِساءٌ مُؤمِناتٌ لَم تَعلَموهُم أَن تَطَئوهُم فَتُصيبَكُم مِنهُم مَعَرَّةٌ بِغَيرِ عِلمٍ ۖ لِيُدخِلَ اللَّهُ في رَحمَتِهِ مَن يَشاءُ ۚ لَو تَزَيَّلوا لَعَذَّبنَا الَّذينَ كَفَروا مِنهُم عَذابًا أَليمًا

Yusuf Ali

They are the ones who denied Revelation and hindered you from the Sacred Mosque and the sacrificial animals,¹ detained from reaching their place of sacrifice. Had there not been believing men and believing women whom ye did not know that² ye were trampling down and on whose account a crime would have accrued to you without (your) knowledge, (God would have allowed you to force your way, but He held back your hands) that He may admit to His Mercy whom He will.³ If they had been⁴ apart, We should certainly have punished the Unbelievers among them with a grievous Punishment.

The Muslims from Medīna had brought the animals for sacrifice with them, and had put on the Iḥrām or pilgrim’s garb (see n. 217 to 2:197), but they were not only prevented from entering Mecca, but were also prevented from sending the sacrificial animals to the place of sacrifice in Mecca, as they could have done under 2:196. The sacrifice was therefore actually offered at Hudaybiyah.
There were at the time in Mecca believing Muslims, men and women, and the faith of some of them was unknown to their brethren from Medīna. Had a fight taken place in Mecca, 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.
God 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 Medīna could have distinguished Muslims from non- Muslims among theMeccans, 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 Hudaybiyah.