thing for which he fought them, and the first thing he instructed his envoys to command people to do. Reports transmitted from him through numerous independent chains establish that the first thing he called people to was to say, “There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah.” When he commanded jihad after the Hijrah, he said:

“I have been commanded to fight the people until they bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah.”

The two Sahīh collections relate that when he sent Mu‘ādh to Yemen, he told him:

“You are going to a people from among the People of the Book. Let the first thing you call them to be the testimony that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah. If they obey you in this, inform them that Allah Most High has prescribed for them five prayers each day and night. If they obey you in this, inform them that Allah Most High has prescribed for them charity to be taken from their wealthy and given to their poor. If they obey you in this, beware of taking their most prized possessions, and beware of the supplication of the oppressed, for there is no barrier between it and Allah.”

Thus he told Mu‘ādh: “Let the first thing you call them to be monotheism.” Yet they were People of the Book—they were Jews, for Jews were numerous in Yemen. This instruction to Mu‘ādh accords with the words of Allah Most High:

“When the sacred months have passed, kill the polytheists wherever you find them, capture them, besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every lookout. But if they repent, establish prayer, and give zakat, then let them go their way.”

And in the other verse:

“But if they repent, establish prayer, and give zakat, then they are your brothers in religion.”

This also accords with the words of Allah Most High:

“They were commanded only to worship Allah, devoting their religion sincerely to Him, upright in faith, to establish prayer, and to give zakat. That is the upright religion.”

The two Sahīh collections also report from him—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—