It has likewise been said that this reflects the unanimous agreement of the Companions (1). For it is established in the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections (2) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ approved the arrangement whereby the people of Khaybar would cultivate the land, the harvest being shared between them and him; yet, as his death approached (3), he instructed: “Expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula” (4).
There is no dispute that Khaybar is part of the Arabian Peninsula (5). Nevertheless, the two rightly guided caliphs acted upon the earlier specific ruling and preferred it to the later general command, allowing the people of Khaybar to remain there (6) until, during ʿUmar’s rule—Allah be pleased with him—they committed certain acts that reached his attention. He then expelled them to Syria (7).
(1) MS Z reads: “the Companions concerning it.”
(2) Related by al-Bukhari, no. 2203 (and in several other places), and by Muslim, no. 1551, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar.
(3) Omitted in MS Z.
(4) Muslim records it in his Sahih, no. 1767, from ʿUmar b. al-Khattab with the wording: “I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula until I leave none there but Muslims.”
– Imam Ahmad narrates it in his Musnad, 1/195, no. 1691; al-Humaydi in his Musnad, no. 85; and others, from Abu ʿUbaydah, who said: “The last words spoken by the Prophet were: ‘Expel the Jews—the people of al-Hijaz and of Najran—from the Arabian Peninsula, and know that the worst of people are those who turn their prophets’ graves into mosques.’”
– Al-Bukhari also reports it in the Book of Jihad (60), 3/111, no. 2888, and Muslim in the Book of Bequests (25), no. 1637, from Ibn ʿAbbas, who related that the Prophet, at his death, gave three instructions: “Expel the polytheists from the Arabian Peninsula …”.
(5) Omitted in MS Z: “and there is no disagreement that Khaybar is part of the Arabian Peninsula.”
(6) Not found in MS Z.
(7) See the account of their innovations and their attack on ʿAbd Allah b. ʿUmar in Sahih al-Bukhari, in —