the law of Islam, even if he utters the two testimonies of faith.

The jurists have differed over whether it is permissible to fight a group that refuses compliance if it abandons a regular sunnah prayer, such as the two rakahs before the dawn prayer. There are two opinions on this.

As for manifest and widely known obligations and prohibitions, there is agreement that such people are to be fought until they commit themselves to performing the prescribed prayers, paying zakat, fasting the month of Ramadan, making pilgrimage to the House, and refraining from prohibited acts, such as marrying sisters, consuming impure things, attacking Muslims’ lives and property, and similar acts. It is obligatory to initiate fighting against such people once the call of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has reached them concerning the requirements over which they are fought. If, however, they attack the Muslims first, the obligation to fight them becomes more emphatic, as we explained when discussing fighting aggressors who resist enforcement, namely highway robbers.

The most far-reaching form of obligatory jihad—against unbelievers and those who refuse to observe certain religious laws, such as those who withhold zakat, the Khawārij, and others like them—is required both offensively and defensively.

When undertaken offensively, it is a communal obligation: if some fulfil it, the obligation is lifted from the rest, while the merit belongs to those who undertake it. As Allah Most High says:

“Not equal are those believers who remain behind, other than those with disabilities…”

And so the verse continues. But if the enemy intends to attack the Muslims, repelling them becomes obligatory upon all those targeted, and upon those not targeted as well, to assist them. As Allah Most High says: