peace and blessings be upon him, and the Muslims acted upon the purport of his Sunnah; that very action belongs to the Sunnah, even though, in ordinary speech, it might be described as a bidʿah. A parallel case is ʿUmar’s—may Allah be pleased with him—expulsion of the Jews of Khaybar, the Christians of Najrān, and others from the land of the Arabs. During his final illness the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had instructed:
“Expel the Jews and the Christians from the Arabian Peninsula.”[2]
Abū Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, did not implement this order because he was pre-occupied with the wars against the apostates and with initiating the campaigns against Persia and Byzantium. ʿUmar likewise could not carry it out at the beginning of his rule due to his engagement with the same wars; but once he had the means, he fulfilled what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had commanded.
Although, in linguistic usage, this deed could be called a bidʿah—as the Jews said to him, “How can you expel us when Abū’l-Qāsim allowed us to stay?”—they later came to ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, during his caliphate asking to be reinstated and said, “We have your document in your own handwriting.” Yet he refused, because
(1) In MS T the wording is al-muslimin (“the Muslims”).
(2) Muslim records the hadith with the wording: “I shall expel the Jews and Christians from Jazirat al-Arab (the Arabian Peninsula) until I leave no one there except a Muslim” (Sahih Muslim, Book of Jihad and Expeditions, chapter: Expelling the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula, no. 1767, 3/1388). A similar version is found in al-Tirmidhi, Book of Expeditions, chapter: On expelling the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula, no. 1607, 4/156; al-Tirmidhi graded it hasan sahih. It is also reported by Abu Dawud, Book of Land Tax, chapter: On expelling the Jews from the Arabian Peninsula, no. 3030, 3/424. In the versions of al-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud the verb is “I shall leave” (atruk) instead of “I shall let” (adaʿ). See likewise Musnad Ahmad, 3/345. Ahmad further narrates—from Abu ʿUbayda b. al-Jarrah—that the last words spoken by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, were: “Expel the Jews of the Hijaz and the people of Najran from the Arabian Peninsula” (Musnad, 1/196).
(3) In MSS A and T the reading is al-yahudi (“the Jew”).
(4) MS D reads: “to ʿUthman.”
(5) A comparable report is cited by al-Qasim b. Sallam (Abu ʿUbayd) in Kitab al-Amwal, through his chain from Abu Muʿawiya, from al-ʿAmash, from Salim b. Abi al-Jaʿd; in it they say to ʿAli: “and your writ is in your hand.” Kitab al-Amwal, p. 98.