he did not reply; instead, the Prophet ﷺ answered on his behalf. He did not say to them, “All you shall have from me is the sword,” nor did he declare, “You have violated the treaty,” supposing they had ever concluded one. It was common knowledge that no messenger had been sent to the people of Najran except at a time when jihad had already been ordained.

The Muslims themselves would sometimes pose questions to the Prophet ﷺ. ʿUmar did so at Hudaybiyyah when the Prophet ﷺ made a truce with the idolaters and did not enter Mecca. ʿUmar said to him, “Did you not tell us that we would come to the House and circumambulate it?” He replied, “Indeed—but did I tell you that you would come to it this very year?” ʿUmar answered, “No.” The Prophet ﷺ then said, “You will surely come to it and will perform tawaf around it.”

Abu Bakr gave ʿUmar the very same answer, even though he had not heard the Prophet’s own reply. It is evident that the wording itself set no time limit to that year; the questioner simply assumed what the words did not convey.

Likewise, when the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever is subjected to a detailed reckoning will be punished,” ʿAishah remarked, “Did not Allah say, ‘So as for him who is given his record in his right hand, he will be accounted with an easy reckoning’ (84:7, al-Inshiqaq)?”