Issue: What is the ruling on seeking the assistance of the People of the Book in war?

The Shaykh : This is a significant book for anyone who wishes to engage with the Sunnah. I found in it a hadith I referred to earlier, in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in one of the battles—perhaps the Battle of the Confederates, or was it Uhud?
Al-Halabi : I think it was Uhud.

The Shaykh : In the Battle of Uhud, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as the hadith states—and the responsibility lies with the narrator—went to the Jews and said to them: and he (peace be upon him) asked them for assistance. This hadith may be exploited regarding the issue that occurred in Saudi Arabia, where they sought the assistance of disbelievers. They cite it as proof that seeking assistance is permissible, and they try to twist the correct hadith, whose authenticity is agreed upon and which is narrated through many channels, not only in Abu Ja'far’s book, but also in the famous books of the Sunnah, including Sahih al-Muslim. In it, from the hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), it is stated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in one of his battles, was approached by a polytheist man who asked him to fight alongside him against the polytheists. He (peace be upon him) said to him: The hadith has a continuation, but we will suffice with this amount for now. This is an explicit text prohibiting the seeking of assistance from a polytheist to fight the polytheists whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is heading to fight. When this unfortunate incident occurred, they twisted and turned this correct hadith, interpreting it in many ways. They relied on narrations that do not indicate, neither directly nor indirectly, this type of assistance, as indicated by the hadith of Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi. For those instances they call "seeking assistance" are not seeking assistance in directly fighting the polytheists. For example, there is a well-known hadith in the Sunan that he (peace be upon him) borrowed armor from Safwan ibn Umayyah. Safwan did not fight with the Messenger, but he had a type of weaponry at that time, so he (peace be upon him) borrowed from him. They called this "seeking assistance" and tried to use this kind of assistance to negate the assistance that is explicitly denied and declared unlegitimate in the hadith of Muslim. As for the hadith of Abu Ja'far, it is at the core of the matter, because he went to the Jews and asked them for assistance, justifying it by saying that we are People of the Book and you are People of the Book.