وَإِذْ يَمْكُرُ بِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لِيُثْبِتُوكَ أَوْ يَقْتُلُوكَ أَوْ يُخْرِجُوكَ ۚ وَيَمْكُرُونَ وَيَمْكُرُ ٱللَّهُ ۖ وَٱللَّهُ خَيْرُ ٱلْمَـٰكِرِينَ
Wa iz yamkuru bikal lazeena kafaroo liyusbitooka aw yaqtulooka aw yukhrijook; wa yamkuroona wa yamkurul laahu wallaahu khairul maakireen
اور (اے محمدﷺ اس وقت کو یاد کرو) جب کافر لوگ تمہارے بارے میں چال چل رہے تھے کہ تم کو قید کر دیں یا جان سے مار ڈالیں یا (وطن سے) نکال دیں تو (ادھر تو) وہ چال چل رہے تھے اور (اُدھر) خدا چال چل رہا تھا۔ اور خدا سب سے بہتر چال چلنے والا ہے
And remember when those who deny plotted against you — to detain you, or kill you, or drive you out. They plot, and God plots, and God is the best of planners.
Surah al-Anfal came down after Badr, and this line takes its first hearers back to a night in Mecca, when the Quraysh council weighed three courses against the Prophet: confinement, killing, or exile. The sira reports that they settled on killing, one young man from each clan striking together so the blood-guilt would be spread too wide to avenge. He left for Medina that night, and eighteen months later the same journey brought him to Badr against the same men.