There is no doubt that the language used in addressing people varies according to need, just as weapons do in warfare. If the Muslims’ enemies differ in their fortifications and armaments from the Persians and Byzantines, then fighting them must accord with what the Sharia requires. Its foundation is to seek what best fulfils obedience to Allah and most benefits His servant—what is best in this world and the Hereafter.

Someone familiar with their warfare may be better able to fight them than someone who is not, not because he possesses greater strength or courage, but because of his affinity with them. Likewise, a non-Arab who emulates the Arabs—such people being the best of the non-Arabs—knows better how to address his own non-Arab people than an Arab does. And an Arab who emulates non-Arabs—such people being the lowest among the Arabs—knows better how to address Arabs than a non-Arab does. It is reported in a hadith:

“The best of your non-Arabs are those who emulate your Arabs, and the worst of your Arabs are those who emulate your non-Arabs.”

Thus, when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, besieged Tā’if, he bombarded its people with a catapult. He fought them in a manner unlike that in which he fought others in direct battle, as at Badr and elsewhere. Likewise, when the Muslims were besieged in the year of the Trench, they dug a trench, something they had not needed outside a siege. It is said that Salmān advised them to do this, and they accepted his advice because it was a means of carrying out what Allah and His Messenger had commanded.

We have already established in our treatise on “Sunnah and Innovation” that an innovation in religion is something that has not been prescribed by