They are the ones who disbelieved and obstructed you from al-Masjid al-Ḥarām while the offering1 was prevented from reaching its place of sacrifice. And if not for believing men and believing women whom you did not know - that you might trample [i.e., kill] them and there would befall you because of them dishonor without [your] knowledge - [you would have been permitted to enter Makkah]. [This was so] that Allāh might admit to His mercy whom He willed. If they had been apart [from them], We would have punished those who disbelieved among them with painful punishment
Translation: Saheeh International (English)
1 i.e., seventy camels intended for sacrifice and feeding of the poor.
لَعَذَّبۡنَاsurely, We would have punishedlaʿadhabnā
ٱلَّذِينَthose whoalladhīna
كَفَرُواْdisbelievedkafarū
مِنۡهُمۡamong themmin'hum
عَذَابًا(with) a punishmentʿadhāban
أَلِيمًاpainfulalīman
Tafsir
They are the ones who disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger, and stopped you and the sacrificial animals from Al-Masjid Al-Ḥarām. The animals remained barred from reaching the Ḥaram where they were to be sacrificed. Had it not been for a few believing men whom you did not know were believers, and by killing the disbelievers you could have killed them also, and incurred sin and had to pay blood money unknowingly, Allah would have allowed you to liberate Makkah so that He may enter into His mercy whoever He wished i.e. the believers in Makkah. If the disbelievers were distinguished from the believers in Makkah, Allah would have definitely punished those who disbelieved in Him and His Messenger with a painful punishment.