The Muslim authorities should have exerted similar efforts...

The Muslim authorities should have exerted similar efforts for encouraging others to be Muslims.” According to the expression of `Umar ibn al-Khattab, it seems that he understood that the share of the al-Mu’allafah Qulubuhum was given as bribe for Islam or was restricted to those who had actually converted to Islam.

In other words, his speech is another picture of the speech of the missionaries who rest upon the policy of supplying people with food and medicine so as to make them convert to Christianity. He should have understood that the Holy Prophet, through dedicating a share of the zakat to that party, did not want to seduce them to convert to Islam by money; rather he aimed at preparing their hearts to receive the invitation to Islam so that they would believe by heart.

The Holy Prophet’s ways for achieving this aim were various; he once appointed one of them as the commander of a Muslim campaign, consulted with them about some affairs of the Muslims and so on. The question had nothing to do with the power or weakness of Islam; the Holy Prophet only wanted them to be faithful believers. The following citation of Dr.

Muhammad `Ajjaj al-Khatib disproves the justification of `Umar as regards the deprivation of the al-Mu’allafah Qulubuhum of their shares from the zakat: “On the Makakh Conquest day, the Holy Prophet ordered his companions and army to uncover their shoulders and trot so that the polytheists would notice their power and toleration that would express the power of Islam. During his reign, `Umar thought that the purpose of this act had been no more existent.

Yet, he said: For which reason are we now uncovering our shoulders and trotting? Allah has fortified Islam and defeated atheism and its people. Nevertheless, we must never neglect anything that we used to do during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah.”[^3] This is irony! According to this text, `Umar complied with the sacred texts; therefore, he can be added to the group of those who followed the sacred texts completely.

According to the previously cited narrations and discussions, he was at the top of those who followed Ijtihad, adopted personal opinions in the issuance of religious verdicts, and identified the advantages that were unknown for the sacred texts!