and were placed side by side for the sake of thematic harmony, as in other comparable cases. Whenever a set of verses was revealed, the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—would instruct that they be inserted at the point in the Qur’an where they best belonged, even if the passage in question had been sent down earlier. A clear illustration of this is the verse in which the Almighty says,

“Say, People of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you” (Āl ʿImrān 3:64).

Its wording encompasses both Jews and Christians. Scholars have therefore maintained that it is an invitation addressed to the two communities, and that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—actually used it when calling the Jews. This shows that the verse was revealed early on, for his summons to the Jews occurred before the verse prescribing the jizyah. Hence he did not levy the jizyah on the people of Khaybar or on the other Jews of the Ḥijāz. Later, however, when he dispatched Muʿādh to Yemen—where many inhabitants were Jews—he instructed him to take from every adult male one dinar or its equivalent, a garment of Maʿāfir cloth. This took place after the expedition of Tabūk, and the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—passed away while Muʿādh was still in Yemen. Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: