and the Battle of the Trench, the conquest of Khaybar, and the conquest of Mecca. In all of these campaigns Allah revealed verses making jihad obligatory, just as He did in Surah Al ʿImran and Surah Al-Ahzab.

If someone objects, “Debate was only abrogated when we were commanded to fight both those who are peaceable and those who are not,” we reply: This claim is invalid. If disputation were incompatible with jihad, it would conflict with its permissibility and with its obligation—even toward the peaceable. And if it is not incompatible with jihad, then it is likewise not incompatible with making jihad obligatory against the peaceable, just as it is not incompatible with obligating jihad against others. A peaceable person may neither debate nor fight, or he may debate without fighting; similarly, someone else may both fight and debate, or he may do only one of the two.