without their paying jizyah in submission. But when Allah revealed Barā’ah and commanded him to renounce open-ended treaties, he could no longer conclude treaties with them as he had previously done. Rather, he was required to fight them all, as Allah said:

“Then, 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 place of ambush. But if they repent, establish prayer and pay zakah, then let them go their way. Indeed, Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

The religion of the People of the Book was better than that of the polytheists. Nevertheless, the Muslims were commanded to fight them until they paid jizyah in submission and humiliation. If treaties could no longer be concluded with the People of the Book as they had been before the revelation of Barā’ah, then it was all the more impermissible to conclude treaties with the polytheists without those conditions.

They say: Singling out the People of the Book for mention thus indicated, by an argument from the stronger case, that treaties were no longer to be concluded with the polytheists without humiliation and jizyah, as he had previously concluded treaties with them, such as the truce of al-Hudaybiyah and other agreements.

They say: It is established in the Sahīh, in the hadith of Buraydah, who said: “Whenever the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, appointed a commander over an army or a detachment, he would enjoin him personally to fear Allah and to treat the Muslims under his command well. Then he would say: ‘Go forth in the name of Allah, in the cause of Allah. Fight those who disbelieve in Allah. Go forth, but do not misappropriate the spoils, act treacherously, mutilate, or kill a child. When you meet your enemy from among the polytheists, offer them three alternatives—or choices. Whichever of these they accept, accept it from them