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he comes to you.
ʿAṭāʾ said regarding a man from among the idolaters who approaches the Muslims without any prior pact: “You give him a choice: either allow him to remain, or escort him to his place of safety.”
As for the Almighty’s words,
“Grant him asylum so that he may hear the speech of Allah” (at-Tawbah 9:6),
it is already known that what is meant is to let him hear in a manner that enables him to grasp the meaning. The aim is not attained by the mere audition of words when one cannot understand their import. Thus, were he a non-Arab, it would be obligatory to translate for him whatever suffices to establish the proof against him—
يَأْتِيَكَ.
وَقَالَ عَطَاءٌ فِي الرَّجُلِ مِنْ أَهْلِ الشِّرْكِ يَأْتِي الْمُسْلِمِينَ بِغَيْرِ عَهْدٍ،
قَالَ:
تُخَيِّرُهُ إِمَّا أَنْ تُقِرَّهُ، وَإِمَّا أَنْ تُبْلِغَهُ مَأْمَنَهُ.
وَقَوْلُهُ تَعَالَى:
{فَأَجِرْهُ حَتَّى يَسْمَعَ كَلَامَ اللَّهِ}
[التوبة: ٦]
.
قَدْ عُلِمَ أَنَّ الْمُرَادَ أَنَّهُ يُسْمِعُهُ سَمْعًا يَتَمَكَّنُ مَعَهُ مِنْ فَهْمِ مَعْنَاهُ، إِذِ الْمَقْصُودُ لَا يَقُومُ بِمُجَرَّدِ سَمْعِ لَفْظٍ لَا يَتَمَكَّنُ مَعَهُ مِنْ فَهْمِ الْمَعْنَى، فَلَوْ كَانَ غَيْرَ عَرَبِيٍّ وَجَبَ أَنْ يُتَرْجَمَ لَهُ مَا يَقُومُ بِهِ عَلَيْهِ الْحُجَّةُ -