Response to suspicion: ((I have been commanded to fight people until they bear witness that there is no god but God))
Content of suspicion:
The enemies of Islam claim that the Prophet Muhammad ordered the killing of anyone simply because he is not a Muslim. The enemies of Islam cite the following hadith:
((On the authority of Abu Hurairah, he said: When the Messenger of God died and Abu Bakr was appointed as his successor after him, and whoever among the Arabs disbelieved became infidels, Omar said to Abu Bakr: How? You fight people, and the Messenger of God said: “I have been commanded to fight people until they say: There is no god but God. So whoever says: There is no god but God will be protected from me.” His wealth and his soul except according to what is rightfully his, and his reckoning is with God…)).
The enemies of Islam also use this hadith as evidence:
((The Messenger of God said: “I have been commanded to fight the people, until they bear witness that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, and establish prayer, and perform Zakat, so if they do it, their blood and their property are protected from me except for what is due to it, and their reckoning is with God.”
The response to this ridiculous suspicion:
First:
The previous hadith does not order the killing of any non-Muslim person, as the enemies of Islam claim, and the hadith does not mention killing at all. Rather, the hadith talks about fighting, not killing, and there is a difference between the two words.
Fighting is the struggle and clash between two parties or armies, such that each of them fights and fights the other…; That is: the army of infidels and the army of Muslims are fighting each other, but if one of the two sides were to stand still and do nothing, then this would not be called fighting at all.
Let me give you a simple example, and you will know the difference between fighting and killing:
We say:“Mustafa killed the mouse”And we do not say:“Mustafa fought the mouse.”
If you look at the hadith, you will find that the hadith mentioned a word(I fight), and not(kill); That is: The hadith talks about fighting and war going on between the infidels and the Muslims.
God legislated fighting for Muslims at that time. In order to defend the Islamic State, themselves, and their families against the infidels who expelled Muslims from their homes, tortured them, and killed them.
Second:
For the word(until)In the phrase:“I fight peopleEvenThey bear witness that there is no god but God.”, the word(until)Here it means(Until)Not its meaning(in order)Its linguistic function here is (the end of the purpose); That is: the end of the time period.
Let me give you an example to make the idea clear.
We say in Arabic:“The criminal kept shooting passers-byEvenThe police arrived and arrested him.”
Any contemplator of the previous phrase will know that the word(until)It means(Until)Not its meaning(in order); The criminal kept releasing usRUntil the police arrived and arrested him, and the phrase does not mean that the criminal opened fire in order to make the police come and arrest him.
And so is the meaning of the phrase“I fight people until they bear witness.”He:“I fight people until they bear witness.”, not its meaning“I fight for people to bear witness.”
The meaning of the phrase is that the Prophet will stop fighting this aggressor infidel as soon as he converts to Islam. This is because the new Muslim’s sins are erased and he is purified from them as soon as he converts to Islam, and thus the sin of his previous aggression against Muslims is erased, and this infidel becomes as if he was born again. Therefore, it is not permissible to kill him after he converted to Islam unless he committed the crime of murder after converting to Islam or committed a major sin after converting to Islam that requires death.
Third:
The hadith was talking about a specific group of people whom the Prophet would fight and fight against. Therefore, when we bring together the methods of hadith, we will find that the Prophet was talking about the polytheists who were seized by the fever and who oppressed the Muslims, tortured them, and expelled them, and the verse does not speak about innocent non-Muslim people.
Let us look at the other ways of talking.
Al-Daraqutni mentioned the same hadith in Al-Sunan as follows:
((On the authority of Anas, who said: The Messenger of God said: “I have been commanded to fight the polytheists until they bear witness that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God)).
From the previous hadith, it is clear to us that what is meant by the word(people)In the first hadiths it is: polytheists.
The Prophet at that time was fighting the aggressing Arab polytheists. Therefore, the command to fight them was mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, where God Almighty says:﴿And fight all of the polytheists just as they fight all of you, and know that God is with the righteous.(At-Tawbah: 36).
If you look at the previous verse, you will find in it God’s command to His Prophet to fight the aggressing polytheists just as they fight Muslims. These polytheists were the ones who started harming the Muslims first. Therefore, we must repel them and stand up to them.
On the other hand, you will find that God forbade attacking innocent infidels. Where God Almighty says:﴿And fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not aggress. Indeed, God does not like aggressors.﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 190].
Now, let us return to the hadith and continue it in other ways:
Ibn Mandah mentioned the same content of the hadith with an authentic chain of transmission in his book (Al-Iman), in which he explains the intended group that the Prophet will fight:
“Khaythamah informed us, Muhammad ibn Awf informed us, Uthman ibn Sa`id ibn Kathir informed us, Ahmad ibn Sulayman ibn Ayyub informed us, Abu The cultivation of Abd al-Rahman bin Amr. Abu al-Yaman al-Hakam bin Nafi’ told us. Shu’ayb bin Abi Hamza told us, on the authority of al-Zuhri, on the authority of Sa’id bin Al-Musayyab, on the authority of Abu Hurairah, that the Messenger of God said: “I have been commanded to fight the people until they say there is no god but God, so whoever says: There is no god but God, he will protect me.” From himself and his wealth, except according to what is due and his reckoning is with God Almighty.” And God revealed in His Book and mentioned a people who were arrogant, and said:﴿When it was said to them, “There is no god but God,” they would become arrogant.﴾[Al-Saffat: 35], And God Almighty said:﴿When those who disbelieved placed in their hearts the fever of ignorance, then God sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and upon the believers and bound them to a word. piety and they were more deserving of it and its people﴾[Al-Fath: 26], It is: There is no god but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God. The polytheists were arrogant about it on the Day of Hudaybiyyah, so the Messenger of God wrote to them on the issue of “The duration.”
From the previous hadith, it is clear to us that the hadith was primarily referring to specific people, namely the infidels of Quraysh, and they are the same ones who were against the Prophet in the incident of Hudaybiyyah, and they are the same ones who tortured the Muslims and kept them away from the Sacred Mosque.
Fourth:
There is a text in the Christian book from the mouth of their god that says:The following is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke [19:27]:“As for my enemies, those who do not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.”
The following is stated in Jewish and Christian texts:Book of Numbers [31:17]:“Now kill every male child.”
Book of Ezekiel [9:6]:“The old man, the young man, the maiden, the child, and the women, be put to death.”
So far, I have completely refuted the suspicion, thanks to God Almighty.
Don’t forget us in your prayers.
May God’s peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you.