And those months, according to the vast majority of scholars, are the ones referred to in the Almighty’s words:

“So travel freely throughout the land for four months, and know that you cannot elude Allah, and that Allah will disgrace the disbelievers.” (al-Tawbah 9:2)

The polytheists fell into two categories. One group held an open-ended covenant with the Muslims, a pact that was valid yet not binding; the other possessed a covenant set for a specific term. Allah therefore instructed His Messenger to repudiate the open-ended covenants of the polytheists, for such agreements are non-binding, and to grant them a grace period of four months. As for those who had a fixed-term covenant, that covenant was binding, and Allah commanded him to honor it for the remainder of its term. Some jurists have maintained