He said: “It has reached me that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—invited the Jewish People of the Scripture, but they refused, so he fought them. The same rule applies to all the other verses that address both groups, such as the Almighty’s words:

‘O People of the Scripture, why do you dispute about Abraham while the Torah and the Gospel were not revealed until after him? Will you not reason? Here you are—you have already argued about matters of which you have some knowledge; so why do you argue about that of which you have no knowledge? Allah knows, whereas you do not know. Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian; rather, he was an upright monotheist, a Muslim, and he was not of the polytheists.’ (Āl ʿImrān 3:65–67)

It should also be understood that among the people of Najrān were Christians living under a covenant of protection and Muslims—and the Muslims were the majority. The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—sent Abu ʿUbaydah to serve both groups and appointed ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm over them as well. As the two Ṣaḥīḥs record from Anas ibn Mālik, the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “Every community has its trustee, and the trustee of our community, O people, is Abu ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrah.”