Explaining the ruling on a Muslim accepting a gift from a polytheist or a People of the Book.

The Shaykh : But here it is asked: Is this a rule that "it is not permissible for a Muslim to accept a gift from a polytheist"? We find in many authentic hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him) that he used to accept gifts from some polytheists, and usually these were from the heads of people, from the rulers. But as I said, this was usually the case, though sometimes he would also accept from ordinary people. None of you fails to remember the story of the Jewish woman who gifted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) a sheep's leg and put poison in the leg. So the Messenger (peace be upon him) sat down to eat, which means he accepted the gift from her. He sat down to eat, but one of the Companions had preceded him and eaten, so he felt the poison and died. As for the Messenger (peace be upon him), he had barely extended his hand to the poisoned sheep when he threw it away and said: . So in a hadith like this, it is shown that the Messenger (peace be upon him) used to accept gifts from polytheists. So why here does he explain his refusal of the camel of 'Iyadh by saying: ? The answer is that what is included in this hadith is the principle, namely: that a Muslim must live away from accepting gifts from those who differ from him in creed, especially those who are polytheists among them. This is because a gift has a psychological meaning that a person may not be aware of, and of its effect, except after a long and extended period. This psychological meaning is what the old Arab poet pointed to when he said:
"Be kind to people, you will enslave their hearts *** For as long as there is kindness, it enslaves the human being"
So accepting a gift has an effect on the soul of the recipient that inclines him to lean somewhat toward the giver, and the giver may be, as you heard, a disbeliever. And in that, it leads the recipient to be lenient regarding the call to the disbelievers, to the disbelievers. This leads to neglecting what he is commanded to do, which is to speak out for the truth and that no one should take him in Allah as a cause for complaint from a complainer. From here, it is part of the perfection of rulers, and indeed scholars, that they do not accustom people to offering gifts to them, because these gifts have an effect on the souls of rulers and scholars. It may lead one of them to accommodate the giver in his ruling if he differed with some people in a case and they brought it to the ruler or the judge or the scholar, and the giver had previously given him gifts. These gifts may lead him to be strict in his ruling against the giver's opponent, or to be lenient in his ruling with the giver. Therefore, the principle is to cut off the root of gifts between the Muslim and the disbeliever, and indeed between the Muslim who has a status, prestige, and a distinguished position, and the general people, so that he is not affected by their gifts. So when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to accept some gifts, that was from the perspective of reconciling hearts, but he did not make that a rule for himself (peace and blessings be upon him). And so it came in his guidance (peace and blessings be upon him): . It seems to me that for everyone who must accept people's gifts, he should reciprocate with the like, and that this should not be a deficiency in his Islamic life, even if it is not a deficiency that throws him into sin, but it contradicts perfection, and perfection belongs to Allah alone. I believe that the answer to this question we hope for on Sunday, for another day, on the pretext that some of the sisters cannot attend. It needs personal study by me first, then by those who did not attend us today, so that the matter is a consultation among everyone. So the discussion will be, if Allah wills, in the next lesson, and this is sufficient.