إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ يَصِلُونَ إِلَىٰ قَوْمٍۭ بَيْنَكُمْ وَبَيْنَهُم مِّيثَـٰقٌ أَوْ جَآءُوكُمْ حَصِرَتْ صُدُورُهُمْ أَن يُقَـٰتِلُوكُمْ أَوْ يُقَـٰتِلُوا۟ قَوْمَهُمْ ۚ وَلَوْ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ لَسَلَّطَهُمْ عَلَيْكُمْ فَلَقَـٰتَلُوكُمْ ۚ فَإِنِ ٱعْتَزَلُوكُمْ فَلَمْ يُقَـٰتِلُوكُمْ وَأَلْقَوْا۟ إِلَيْكُمُ ٱلسَّلَمَ فَمَا جَعَلَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ عَلَيْهِمْ سَبِيلًا
Illal lazeena yasiloona ilaa qawmim binakum wa bainahum meesaaqun aw jaaa'ookum hasirat sudooruhum ai yuqaatilookum aw yuqaatiloo qawmahum, wa law shaaa'al laahu lasallatahum 'alaikum falaqaatalookum; fa ini' tazalookum falam yuqaatilookum wa alqaw ilaikumus salama famaa ja'alal laahu lakum 'alaihim sabeelaa
Z wyjątkiem tych, którzy są związani z ludem mającym z wami przymierze; albo tych, którzy przyszli do was - z sercem ściśniętym - aby walczyć z wami albo ze swoim ludem. Gdyby zechciał Bóg, to dałby im władzę nad wami, I oni zwalczyliby was. A jeśli oni odejdą, nie prowadząc z wami walki, i zaofiarują wam pokój, to wówczas nie wskaże wam Bóg przeciwko nim żadnej drogi.
Except for those who reach a people with whom you have a treaty, or who come to you with hearts reluctant to fight you or to fight their own people. Had God willed, he would have given them power over you, and they would have fought you. So if they withdraw from you, do not fight you, and offer you peace, then God grants you no way against them.
The sentence opens with an exception particle, so it belongs grammatically to the order it follows rather than arriving later as a softening. Two groups fall outside that command: people who take refuge with a community already under treaty, and people who come with their chests too tight to fight on either side, an Arabic idiom for constriction felt in the body. The exemption turns on that inner state and on standing away, not on any declaration of belief.