Explanation of Riyad al-Salihin-66a

The reciter: The author (may Allah have mercy on him) transmitted, in the context of the hadiths in the chapter on the command to maintain the prescribed prayers and the severe prohibition and warning against abandoning them: "Narrated by Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), and offer the prayers perfectly and give the obligatory charity, so if they perform that, then they save their lives and property from me except for Islamic laws and then their reckoning (accounts) will be done by Allah.

أُمرتُ أن أقاتل الناس حتى يشهدوا أن لا إله إلا الله وأن محمدًا رسول الله، ويقيموا الصلاة، ويؤتوا الزكاة، فإذا فعلوا ذلك، عصموا مني دماءهم وأموالهم إلا بحق الإسلام، وحسابهم على الله

Sahih al-Bukhari 25

Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim".

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book *Riyad al-Salihin*, in the chapter on maintaining the five prayers, regarding what he transmitted from 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: So the One who commanded them to fight is the One who created them, and He has the right to deal with His dominion as He wills. He has the right to command the killing of these people and to command fighting them until they submit to Islam. When they submit to Islam, He holds back from them. This hadith is specific to the saying of Allah the Exalted: .
And likewise by the hadith of Buraydah ibn al-Husayb: : He mentioned the hadith, and in it: , and on this basis, the disbelievers are fought until two limits are reached: either they submit to Islam, or they pay the jizyah (tax on protected non-Muslims) from their hand while they are humbled. If they do neither of these, it is obligatory for the Muslims to fight them. And the fighting of the Muslims against them is by the command of Allah, who is their Lord and the Lord of the disbelievers. It is not fanaticism on the part of the Muslims for their religion, and it is their right to be fanatical for it because it is the religion of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and the religion of non-Muslims is a false, abrogated religion that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) does not accept from anyone, as He the Exalted said: .
And His saying: has been discussed previously.
: In this is evidence that if the disbelievers are fought, their wealth is lawful for us, just as we make their blood lawful, so we make their wealth lawful a fortiori. And likewise, we make their women and offspring lawful; they become captives for us and slaves for the Muslims, because we take them by the words of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and by His command, His religion, and His Shari'ah.
.
Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) fought; he fought those who withheld zakah until the Companions remonstrated with him, and 'Umar remonstrated with him regarding it, but Abu Bakr insisted on fighting those who withheld zakah and said: meaning: a small female goat, and in another narration: a rope with which a camel is tied .
In this is evidence of the importance of prayer, and that people are fought for abandoning it until they pray it, and may Allah grant success.