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and he also dispatched ʿAli ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) to declare the annulment of those covenants; and Allah revealed the unrestricted “Verse of the Sword,” enjoining jihad against the polytheists and against the People of the Scripture, as He, Exalted is He, says:
“When the Sacred Months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them, capture them, besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every point. But if they repent, establish the prayer, and give the zakat, then let them go their way.” (al-Tawbah 9:5)
وَأَرْدَفَهُ بِعَلِيِّ بْنِ أَبِي طَالِبٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ لِنَبْذِ الْعُهُودِ، وَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ آيَةَ السَّيْفِ الْمُطْلَقَةَ بِجِهَادِ الْمُشْرِكِينَ وَجِهَادِ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ،
فَقَالَ تَعَالَى:
{فَإِذَا انْسَلَخَ الْأَشْهُرُ الْحُرُمُ فَاقْتُلُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ حَيْثُ وَجَدْتُمُوهُمْ وَخُذُوهُمْ وَاحْصُرُوهُمْ وَاقْعُدُوا لَهُمْ كُلَّ مَرْصَدٍ فَإِنْ تَابُوا وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَوُا الزَّكَاةَ فَخَلُّوا سَبِيلَهُمْ}
[التوبة: ٥]
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