"Commanded to Fight the People" — The Scope of Bukhari 25: All Mankind, Arab Polytheists, or Aggressors?

One Word, Three Worlds of Meaning

Open the first book of Sahih al-Bukhari — the Book of Faith. Hadith number 25. A single short sentence, narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar, that begins: "I have been commanded to fight the people..." For fourteen centuries, jurists, caliphs, commentators and critics have all stopped at one word: al-nas — "the people." Which people? All of humanity, until it believes? The pagan Arabs of one century and one peninsula? Or only those who raised the sword first? Armies have marched on one answer. Treaties have been signed on another. This article opens the books on all three readings.

This article does not mock any religion. It will do what we always do: open the books, present the texts exactly as they are, and ask three questions — what does the sentence itself say, what scope did the scholars assign to it, and what was actually practiced in history? Both the difficulty and the traditional answers and harmonizations will be quoted as they stand, column against column. The verdict, as always, is yours.