وَلَوْ قَاتَلَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَوَلَّوُا الْأَدْبَارَ ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُونَ وَلِيًّا وَلَا نَصِيرًا ﴿۲۲﴾ سُنَّةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَلَنْ تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ اللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا ﴿۲۳﴾ وَهُوَ الَّذِي كَفَّ أَيْدِيَهُمْ عَنْكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ عَنْهُمْ بِبَطْنِ مَكَّةَ مِنْ بَعْدِ أَنْ أَظْفَرَكُمْ عَلَيْهِمْ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرًا ﴿۲۴﴾ هُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَصَدُّوكُمْ عَنِ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَالْهَدْيَ مَعْكُوفًا أَنْ يَبْلُغَ مَحِلَّهُ وَلَوْلَا رِجَالٌ مُؤْمِنُونَ وَنِسَاءٌ مُؤْمِنَاتٌ لَمْ تَعْلَمُوهُمْ أَنْ تَطَئُوهُمْ فَتُصِيبَكُمْ مِنْهُمْ مَعَرَّةٌ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ لِيُدْخِلَ اللَّهُ فِي رَحْمَتِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ لَوْ تَزَيَّلُوا لَعَذَّبْنَا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا ﴿۲۵﴾

﴾22﴿ Wa law qaatalakumul lazeena kafaroo la wallawul adbaara summa laa yajidoona waliyanw-wa laa naseeraa
﴾23﴿ Sunnatal laahil latee qad khalat min qablu wa lan tajida lisunnatil laahi tabdeelaa
﴾24﴿ Wa Huwal lazee kaffa aydiyahum 'ankum wa aydiyakum 'anhum bibatni Makkata mim ba'di an azfarakum 'alaihim; wa kaanal laahu bimaa ta'maloona Baseera
﴾25﴿ Humul lazeena kafaroo wa saddookum 'anil-Masjidil-Haraami walhadya ma'koofan any yablugha mahillah; wa law laa rijaalum mu'minoona wa nisaaa'um mu'minaatul lam ta'lamoohum an tata'oohum fatuseebakum minhum ma'arratum bighairi 'ilmin liyud khilal laahu fee rahmatihee many yashaaa'; law tazayyaloo la'azzabnal lazeena kafaroo minhum 'azaaban aleema

﴾22﴿ And if the disbelievers fight against you, they will surely turn their backs in flight, and they will find neither a protector nor a helper
﴾23﴿ This is the way of Allah that has occurred before, and you will never find any change in the way of Allah
﴾24﴿ And to Allah alone belongs all authority—He is the One who restrained their hands from you and your hands from them in the midst of Makkah, after He had given you power over them. And Allah is All-Seeing of what you do
﴾25﴿ These are the ones who disbelieved and prevented you from the Sacred Mosque and detained the sacrificial offerings from reaching their place of sacrifice. And if it were not for believing men and believing women—whom you did not know—that you might trample them and incur guilt unknowingly, Allah would have allowed you to fight. But He held you back so that He may admit into His mercy whom He wills. Had they been apart, We would have certainly punished the disbelievers among them with a painful punishment

[22,23] This too is included among the glad tidings — meaning: the disbelievers will not be able to fight against you, because Allah the Exalted supports you.
(سُنَّةَ اللَّهِ) — refers to Allah’s established way of supporting His previous prophets (peace be upon them) against disbelievers — where Allah granted them victory and caused the disbelievers to be defeated and destroyed.
[24] This too is a mention of Allah’s favor upon the believers, and also a reinforcement of the previous verse — meaning: during battle, the disbelievers turn their backs because Allah is supporting you, just as in this specific incident, Allah granted you His help.
(وَهُوَ الَّذِي كَفَّ أَيْدِيَهُمْ عَنْكُمْ) — according to a narration in Tirmidhī, eighty disbelievers descended from Mount Tanʿīm at Fajr (dawn prayer) intending to kill the Prophet (May Allah bless him and give him peace). However, the noble Companions captured them, but the Prophet pardoned and released them.
Based on this event, the meaning of (بَطْنَ مَكَّة) refers to Hudaybiyyah, because part of the area of Hudaybiyyah lies within the boundary of the Haram (Sanctuary) in Makkah.
[25] In this verse, Allah specifically mentions the condition of the people of Makkah, and addresses a possible doubt: Why was the Treaty of Ḥudaybiyyah made? Why didn’t Allah aid the believers to attack the people of Makkah directly? Should there not have been a battle?

The answer is: Yes, the cause for battle did exist — namely, their disbelief, and their prevention of the believers and sacrificial animals from reaching the Sacred Mosque. These last two acts were unjust even according to the polytheists’ own religion.

However, there was also a reason preventing battle — and that was the presence of weak believers in Makkah, and of others whom Allah had destined to believe in the future. If a battle had taken place in Makkah at that time, those believers might have been accidentally killed in ignorance.
(أَنْ يَبْلُغَ مَحِلَّهُ) — here, "maḥill" means the place where sacrificial animals are to be slaughtered — i.e., the Sacred Sanctuary (al-Ḥaram).
(وَلَوْلَا رِجَالٌ) — this expresses the reason why fighting was withheld. These individuals were believers in Makkah who, either due to valid excuses or pressure from the disbelievers, had not yet migrated.

(مَعَرَّةٌ) — according to Lisān al-ʿArab, maʿarrah can mean: an itch or irritation, sin or hardship, harm or affliction, or blame and compensation. So here, the meaning is: if you had unknowingly killed these believers, it would have resulted in public blame from the disbelievers, and legal compensation (diyah) would become necessary. Because if a believer resides in enemy territory without emigrating, and is unknowingly killed, then expiation is obligatory — as stated in Surah an-Nisā’ (4:92).
(لَوْ تَزَيَّلُوا) — meaning: if these believers had been clearly separated from the disbelievers, then punishment would have surely descended upon the disbelievers.
According to a narration from Qatādah, this verse proves that Allah removes punishment from disbelievers due to the presence of believers among them.
Al-Qurṭubī discusses many such related issues under this verse — refer to his tafsīr for further details.