—that is, to listen and submit to the commands of Allah and His Messenger—so that whoever embraces Islam does so with clear insight. Some people enter Islam merely recognizing it as a religion yet have no idea what it entails; when the prescriptions are later explained to them, they apostatize—Allah’s refuge is sought. Their second disbelief is graver than the first, for apostasy is not tolerated: the apostate is told, “Either return to what you have abandoned, or we shall put you to death.”

For this reason, in our own time—when many unbelievers live among us, whether Christians, Buddhists, idol-worshippers, or others—whenever we call them to Islam we must first set out what Islam actually is and explain it in a way that makes the matter plain, so that they enter with full awareness. It is not enough to say, “Just become Muslim,” because they do not yet know what rights of Allah are incumbent upon them in Islam. If they embrace the faith with insight, we have a valid case later on—should they apostatize—to demand that they return to Islam or else face execution. But if we have only given them a vague, summary invitation, that is a deficient daʿwah. The proof for this is the ḥadīth of Sahl ibn Saʿd that we are expounding.

In that ḥadīth the Prophet ﷺ says, “By Allah, for Allah to guide a single man through you is better for you than red camels.” To “guide him” means that Allah grants him success, through your efforts, to accept Islam; this is better for you than red camels—so called because, for the Arabs, red-haired camels were among the most prized, if not the very most prized, of possessions. Accordingly ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, carried out the command, entered their territory, and invited them to Islam, but they did not embrace it.

In the end, however, victory—praise be to Allah—belonged to the Muslims, and Allah granted conquest at the hands of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, may Allah be pleased with him. The story is well known in the books of the Prophet’s military expeditions.