[Remember, O Muḥammad], when Allāh showed them to you in your dream as few; and if He had shown them to you as many, you [believers] would have lost courage and would have disputed in the matter [of whether to fight], but Allāh saved [you from that]. Indeed, He is Knowing of that within the breasts.
لَّفَشِلۡتُمۡsurely you would have lost couragelafashil'tum
وَلَتَنَٰزَعۡتُمۡand surely you would have disputedwalatanāzaʿtum
فِيinfī
ٱلۡأَمۡرِthe matterl-amri
وَلَٰكِنَّbutwalākinna
ٱللَّهَAllahl-laha
سَلَّمَۚsaved (you)sallama
إِنَّهُۥIndeed, Heinnahu
عَلِيمُۢ(is) All-Knowerʿalīmun
بِذَاتِof what is inbidhāti
ٱلصُّدُورِthe breastsl-ṣudūri
Tafsir
Remember, O Messenger, Allah’s favour upon you, and upon the believers, when He showed you a dream in which the idolaters were few in number. You informed the believers about this and they took it as a good sign, and their determination to face the enemy in battle was strengthened. If Allah had shown the idolaters to you to be many, the determination of your Companions would have become weak and they would have become afraid of fighting. But Allah saved you all from that and protected them from losing courage. He therefore made them seem few in number in the eye of His Messenger (peace be upon him). He knows what the hearts contain and what the souls hide.