Overall meaning : Then, when the four-month grace period have elapsed, Allah declares, the believers must kill the idolaters who associate partners with Allah wherever they find them, take them prisoner, confine them, prevent them from spreading everywhere, besiege them and lie in wait for them at every conceivable place. They should, however, leave them alone and let them go their way once they repent, duly perform the obligatory prayers and pay zakat to those entitled to it, for Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Merciful.
Allah then commands His Prophet, Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to grant protection to any of the idolaters who seeks his protection from amongst those he is fighting until he hears the Word of Allah—the Qur’an—from him, then if he does not convert to Islam he should let him return to his country where he feels safe, for they are a people who do not know.