“I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah. Once they say it, their lives and property are protected from me, except by its due right.” It was asked, “And what is its due right?” He replied: “Adultery after having been married, or disbelief after Islam, or killing a person, for which one is executed.”

In al-Majmaʿ (1/25–26), he said:

“Al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Awsat, and its chain includes ʿAmr ibn Hashim al-Bayruti, whom the majority deemed trustworthy.”

In al-Taqrib, he says that he is truthful but makes mistakes.

Moreover, the hadith was narrated by Companions other than those we have mentioned. Whoever wishes to examine this may consult Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid (1/24–27).

I say: These hadiths clearly indicate the obligation of fighting for the purpose of spreading the call, contrary to the view held by some writers in this age.

Among the wordings of the previously cited hadith of Abu Hurayrah is:

“I fight the people until they testify that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah, believe in me and in what I have brought. Once they do so, their lives and property are protected from me, except by their due right, and their reckoning is with Allah.”

410 — “I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah, believe in me and in what I have brought. Once they do so, their lives and property are protected from me, except by their due right, and their reckoning is with Allah.”

Muslim narrated it (1/39) through the route of al-ʿAlaʾ ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Yaʿqub, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, who attributed it directly to the Prophet.

The hadith is authentic and mass-transmitted from Abu Hurayrah and others through numerous routes with similar wordings, to which I have referred above.