Sahih Muslim — Hadith #7583

Qutaybah ibn Sa'id narrated to us, saying: Layth ibn Sa'd narrated to us, on the authority of 'Uqayl, on the authority of al-Zuhri, who said: 'Ubaydullah ibn 'Abdullah ibn 'Utbah ibn Mas'ud informed me, on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, who said: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away and Abu Bakr succeeded him, and some of the Arabs disbelieved, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab said to Abu Bakr: "How can you fight the people when they have..." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “I have been commanded to fight the people until they say, ‘There is no god but Allah.’ Whoever says, ‘There is no god but Allah,’ has protected his life and property from me, except for what is due from him, and his reckoning is with Allah.” Abu Bakr said, “By Allah, I will fight whoever differentiates between prayer and zakat, for zakat is the right of wealth. By Allah, if they withheld from me even a camel’s tether that they used to pay to the Messenger of Allah…” By God, may God bless him and grant him peace, I would have fought them to prevent him. Then Umar ibn al-Khattab said: By God, it was only when I saw that God Almighty had opened Abu Bakr’s heart to fighting that I knew it was the truth.