hypocrites and be rigorous with them: Hell shall be their dwelling place! Wretched the journey thither! Sura At-Taubah (ix) 74.¹

Whilst the call to arms is general Muhammad exempted students and religious teachers:—

The faithful must not march forth altogether to the wars: and if a party of every band march not out, it is that they may instruct their people in their religion and may warn their people when they come back to them, that they take heed to themselves. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 123.

As Muhammad was preparing to go to Tabuk he was asked to open a newly-erected Mosque at Kuba. He found on his return that it had been built with a sectarian spirit, so he ordered it to be destroyed and said:—

There are some who have built a Mosque for mischief and for infidelity and to disunite the faithful and in expectation of him, who in time past warred against God and His Apostle. They will surely swear 'our aim was only good;' but God is witness that they are liars.
Never set thy foot in it. ² There is a Mosque founded from its first day in piety. More worthy is it that thou enter therein; therein are men who aspire to purity and God loveth the purified.
Which of the two is best? He who hath founded his building on the fear of God and the desire to please Him, or he who hath founded his building on the brink of an undermined bank washed away by torrents, so that it rusheth with him into the fire of Hell? But God guideth not the doers of wrong.

Their building which they have built will not cease to cause uneasiness in their hearts, until their hearts are cut in pieces. God is Knowing, Wise. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 108-110.

The expedition to Tabuk was the last one commanded by Muhammad in person, and now it seemed 'as if all opposition' was crushed, all danger over.¹ There is a Tradition to the effect that the followers of the Prophet began to sell their arms and to say, 'The wars for religion are now ended.' But when this reached the ears of the Prophet, he forbade it saying, 'There shall not cease from the midst of my people a party engaged in war for the truth, even until Antichrist appear.'² Whether the Tradition is a genuine one or not, it shows at least the views which the early Muslims held as to religious wars and is quite in accord with the Tradition already referred to, ³ Jihad will remain till the day of judgement.'

The compulsion of the Jews and Christians, after the expedition to Tabuk, is sanctioned in some verses of Sura At-Taubah (ix), which the best authorities place soon after that date:—

Make war upon those who believe not in God, nor in the last day, and who forbid not that which God and His Apostle have forbidden and who profess not the profession of the truth, until they pay tribute out of hand, and they be humbled.