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Fatwa CenterExplaining hadeeth: 'I have been commanded to fight against...'
Question
Please interpret the hadith and tell me the legitimacy of this hadith. According to Abdullaah ibn 'Umar, a companion of Muhammad, “Allaah’s Messenger, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, said, ‘I have been ordered (by Allaah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allaah and that Muhammad is Allaah’s Messenger, offer the prayers perfectly, and give the obligatory charity, so if they perform all that, then they save their lives and property from me.’” (Bukhari: vol. 1, bk. 2, no. 24)
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The hadeeth is sah. It was cited in Saheeh Al-Bukhari and Saheeh Muslim on the authority of Ibn ʻUmar 
. Dr. ʻAbd Al-Kareem Al-Khudayr commented on the hadeeth, saying:
“The hadeeth reads, ‘I have been commanded...’ The command came from Allaah Almighty because no one commands him except Allaah. The word ‘people’ in the statement, ‘I have been commanded to fight against people,’ here refers to the disbelievers or Muslims who have committed an offense that entails fighting them. It has been authentically established in an authentic hadeeth that, ‘Whenever the Prophet, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, went out with us to fight (in the cause of Allaah) against a people, he would wait till morning; if he heard the athaan (call to prayer), he would abort the attack, and if he did not hear the athaan, then he would attack them.’ The Muslim individuals or groups who openly abandon the manifest Islamic rituals that must not be neglected such as the athaan are to be fought until they submit. If a population of Muslims abandoned the 'Eed prayer, for instance, then they are fought regardless of whether they believe that it is a Sunnah (recommended act) or a collective obligation, because it is an evident ritual of Islam and it is not permissible to stop it. The same applies to the athaan regardless of whether it is believed to be an obligation or a recommended act. The hadeeth goes on ‘...until they testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah...’ Ibn ʻUthaymeen 
commented on the hadeeth, saying, ‘Whoever openly refrains from observing these four manifest Islamic rituals stated in the hadeeth: testifying that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, testifying that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah, establishing the prayer, and paying the zakah, then the Muslim ruler should fight against them until they surrender and uphold the manifest Islamic rituals. If they testified that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah, established the prayer, and paid the zakah, then their blood is protected by the sharee'ah.’ The hadeeth further says, ‘...if they do that, then they will have gained protection from me for their lives and property.’ If they openly observed these manifest Islamic rituals while harboring disbelief, then their reckoning is left to Allaah. The hadeeth clearly stated that once they observe these manifest Islamic rituals, their lives and property are preserved and protected by the sharee'ah. The hadeeth goes, ‘...unless they commit acts that are punishable in Islam;’ this means that their lives and property are protected unless they commit offenses entailing retaliation in the form of a financial or physical punishment. The hadeeth goes, ‘...their reckoning will be with Allaah;’ this refers to their harbored intentions...”
For more benefit, pleaser refer to fatwa 89484.
Allaah knows best.
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