They are the ones who persisted in disbelief and hindered you from the Sacred Mosque, preventing the sacrificial animals from reaching their destination.1 ˹We would have let you march through Mecca,˺ had there not been believing men and women, unknown to you. You might have trampled them underfoot, incurring guilt for ˹what you did to˺ them unknowingly. That was so Allah may admit into His mercy whoever He wills.2 Had those ˹unknown˺ believers stood apart, We would have certainly inflicted a painful punishment on the disbelievers.
— Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran
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 Allah 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
— Saheeh International