—the Muslims’ fighting them is by the command of Allah, who is their Lord as well as the Lord of the unbelievers. It is not some blind partisanship on the Muslims’ part for their faith—though they do indeed have the right to champion it—for it is the religion of Allah, whereas every other religion is false, abrogated, and unacceptable to Him, as He, the Exalted, says: “Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him.”

As for the wording, “until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establish the prayer, and pay the zakah,” this has already been explained: once they do that, their blood and their property are protected from me. This indicates that when the disbelievers are fought, their wealth becomes lawful for us; just as we lawfully shed their blood, a fortiori their property is also lawful. Likewise, we may take their women and children as captives; they become booty for us and slaves for the Muslims, for we seize them by the words of Allah—by His command, His religion, and His law. Yet once they carry out what has been mentioned, their blood and their possessions are safeguarded from me—except where the right of Islam dictates otherwise—and their reckoning rests with Allah.

Abu Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with him) fought those who withheld the zakah, even though the Companions—and ʿUmar in particular—remonstrated with him. He insisted, saying, “By Allah, if they were to withhold from me even a single young goat—another narration says a camel’s hobble—that they used to give to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), I would fight them over it.” ʿUmar relates: “When I saw that Allah had opened Abu Bakr’s heart to the idea of fighting, I knew….”