Then he said: Rather, what they are in of protection and guardianship is only from Us, not from any barrier that prevents them from destroying Us. We did not protect them and their past fathers except for their enjoyment of worldly life and a delay, just as We granted enjoyment to others from the disbelievers and gave them respite until the time became long for them. Their days of comfort and tranquility extended, so they thought that they would continue in that state, not being overcome nor having the garment of their security and enjoyment taken from them. And that is an empty hope and a false duration. Do they not see that We are diminishing the land of disbelief and the abode of war, and cutting off its edges by empowering the Muslims over it and making them prevail over its people, returning it to the abode of Islam? If you say: What is the benefit in His saying 'We will come to the land'? I say that it depicts what Allah was causing to occur by the hands of the Muslims, and that their armies and expeditions were invading the land of the polytheists and coming to it, prevailing over it and diminishing its edges.