in Mecca, after which he turned to the Jews, for they were his neighbors in Madinah; then to the Christians, because they were farther away, toward al-Shām and Yemen; and finally to the Magians, who were even more distant, in the lands of Iraq and Khurasan.

This was the sound order: he would call those nearest to him, then those a little farther off, and only afterward dispatch his envoys to the more remote. At the outset the Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was occupied with fighting the polytheists and the Jews. When, however, he concluded a peace treaty with the polytheists, the treaty