1543 — Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Farisi informed us: Ahmad ibn Sa'id al-Thaqafi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhuhali narrated to us; Ibn Abi Maryam narrated to us; al-Layth ibn Sa'd narrated to us; Aqil narrated to me, from Ibn Shihab, who informed me that Ubayd Allah ibn Abd Allah informed him that Abu Hurayrah said:

“When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, passed away, and Abu Bakr was appointed as his successor, and those Arabs who disbelieved did so, Umar said, ‘O Abu Bakr, how can we fight the people when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “I have been commanded to fight the people until ⦗915⦘ they say: There is no god but Allah. Whoever says: There is no god but Allah, his property, blood, and life are protected from me except by its due right, and his reckoning is with Allah.”’

Abu Bakr said, ‘By Allah, I will certainly fight those who differentiate between the prayer and zakah, for zakah is the due owed upon wealth. By Allah, if they were to withhold from me even a camel-tether which they used to give to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, I would fight them for withholding it.’

Umar said, ‘By Allah, it was only when I saw that Allah had opened Abu Bakr’s heart to fighting that I knew it was the truth.’

Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim.