those who withheld zakat, ʿUmar said to him, “How can you fight the people when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Once they do so, their lives and property are protected from me, except as rightfully required, and their reckoning rests with Allah, Mighty and Majestic’?”

Abū Bakr replied, “Zakat is among those rightful requirements. By Allah, I will certainly fight anyone who distinguishes between prayer and zakat, for zakat is a right due on wealth. By Allah, if they withheld from me even a young female goat that they used to give to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, I would fight them for withholding it.” ʿUmar and the others then accepted Abū Bakr’s position. He had understood the meaning of the Messenger’s words more fully.

It is also reported in the two Sahīh collections that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establish prayer, and give zakat. Once they do so, their lives and property are protected from me, except as rightfully required by Islam.”

This explicit text agrees with Abū Bakr’s understanding. Likewise, what he said to ʿUmar concerning the Treaty of al-Hudaybiyya matched what the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had said to him. There are many similar examples.

As for the notion that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, spoke in words that ʿUmar and others like him could not understand, and that sounded to them like the speech of a Zanjī—whoever believes this is ignorant and astray. May Allah inflict upon him what he deserves.

As for the claim that the people of the Suffa were rightly guided before the Prophet’s mission, may whoever says