They were also commanded in Mecca to give zakat and to do good, but the prescribed dues and minimum thresholds of zakat were instituted only in Medina. As for “fasting the month of Ramadan,” it was made obligatory only in the second year after the Hijrah, and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, lived through nine Ramadans.

As for “Hajj,” people differed over when it became obligatory. One group said that it was made obligatory in the sixth year after the Hijrah—the year in which, by common agreement, al-Hudaybiyah took place. They said: “This verse indicates that both Hajj and umrah are obligatory, because the command to complete an act entails the command both to begin it and to complete it.”

The majority, however, said that Hajj became obligatory only later. Some said in the ninth year, others in the tenth; this is the correct view. For the verse establishing its obligation is His saying, Most High:

“Pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to Allah by people.”

This verse occurs in Surah Āl ‘Imrān, in the course of His address to the People of the Book. The opening of Āl ‘Imrān, together with its passages addressing the People of the Book, was revealed when the Christian delegation from Najrān came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and debated with him concerning the Messiah.

They were the first of the People of the Book to pay the jizyah. This was after the revelation of Surah Barā’ah, in which Allah instituted the jizyah and commanded fighting the People of the Book until they pay it with their own hands while humbled. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, undertook the expedition to Tabūk, in which he went out to fight the Christians, when Allah commanded this in His saying:

“Fight those among the People of the Book who do not believe in Allah or the Last Day, who do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, and who do not follow the religion of truth, until they pay