Note [édition originale] : We have granted thee a manifest victory.] This victory, from which the chapter takes its title, according to
the most received interpretation, was the taking of the city of
Mecca. The
passage is said to have been revealed on
Mohammed’s return from the expedition
of
al Hodeibiya, and contains a promise or prediction of this signal success,
which happened not till two years after, the preterite tense being therein
used, according to the prophetic style, for the future
1.
There are some, notwithstanding, who suppose the advantage here intended
was the pacification of
al Hodeibiya, which is here called a victory, because
the
Meccans sued for peace, and made a truce there with
Mohammed, their
breaking of which occasioned the taking of
Mecca. Others think the conquest
of
Khaibar, or the victory over the
Greeks at
Mûta, &c., to be meant in this
place.