In his famous mu’allaqah poem, the Jahili poet ‘Amr Ibn Kulthum said, “And we had many glorious and long days, we defied the king therein, lest we obey.” The word he used for “we obey” is “nadin,” from the well-known but oft-misunderstood root word “din.” Usually translated as “religion,” and indeed it is that, one of the basic meanings of din is obedience, and is especially used – as in the above verse of poetry – in reference to the authority and rule of a king. Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) said in the story of Yusuf (عليه و سلم), “Thus We plotted for Yusuf. He would not take his brother by the din of the king” (Surah Yusuf 12:76), Meaning, “by the rule and authority of the king,” or as at-Tabari commented, “Yusuf would not take his brother by the rule, judgment, or obedience of the king of Egypt.” He then mentioned the various statements of the Salaf suggesting that “din” in this ayah means sultan (authority), qada (judgment), and hukm (rule), ending his commentary by saying, “And the basis of din is obedience.” As for our King – the King of mankind, the King of the Day of Recompense, the True King (سبحانه وتعالى) – then we have entered into His din and must obey His rule wholeheartedly, and Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) said, “And fight them until there is no fitnah and the din is for Allah. But if they cease, then there is no aggression except against the tyrants” (Surah Al-Baqarah 2:193). So the command of Allah – to which obedience is due as a religious duty – is to fight until there is no fitnah, i.e. evident shirk in the obedience of Allah, and until no manifest authority is given to any rule except to that of the True King. His saying, “if they cease,” means that if they submit or surrender, then they are to be left alone. This can either be in the form of repentance to Allah and abiding by His worship alone or by the paying of jizyah while remaining upon subjugated kufr, just as Allah said, regarding the command of killing the mushrikin in general. Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) said, “Then if they repent, establish the prayer, and pay the zakah, then leave them alone” (Surah At-Tawbah 9:5) And He said that the People of the Book – those who “do not adhere to the true din” – should specifically be fought. Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) said, “Until they pay the jizyah willingly, while they are humiliated” (Surah At-Tawbah 9:29). And “there is no aggression except against the tyrants” means those who did not submit nor surrender, either through repentance or dhimmah, the covenant of jizyah. Thus, anyone who is neither a Muslim nor a dhimmi kafir (while still a tyrant against himself, deserving both hatred and humiliation) is a hostile tyrant deserving aggression. This is because shirk itself is dhulm (tyranny). Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) said, “And when Luqman said to his son, admonishing him, ‘O my son, do not commit shirk with Allah. Verily shirk is a great tyranny’” (Surah Luqman 31:13) And although the people of dhimmah are mushrikin from the People of the Book, their shirk is subjugated and humiliated under the Shari’ah of Allah enforced upon them. So the duty to fight the tyrants – the mushrikin – is clear and established. But Allah did not only command the “fighting” of disbelievers, as if to say He only wants us to conduct frontline operations against them. Rather, He has also ordered that they be slain wherever they may be – on or off the battlefield. Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) said, “So when the sacred months have passed, then kill the mushrikin wherever you find them and take them, surround them, and wait for them at every outpost” (Surah At-Tawbah 9:5) All of this becomes all the more apparent for those who have realized that the blood of a kafir is cheap, filthy, and permissible to shed. Islam is the religion of sound principles providing the perfect foundations upon which the solid structures of justice and glory are built. One of these great principles is that all people must be fought until they accept Islam or come under a shar’i covenant. This principle establishes the prohibition of shedding Muslim and covenant-bound kafir blood as well as the permissibility of shedding the blood of all other kuffar. Narrated by Ibn Umar (رضي الله عنه) that, The Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said, “I have been ordered to fight mankind until they say that there is no god except Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah, and they establish the prayer and pay the zakah. Whoever does so, then his blood and wealth are safe from me except for a lawful reason” (Bukhari and Muslim) Narrated by Abu Bakrah (رضي الله عنه) that, The Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said, addressing the Muslims, “For verily your blood, wealth, and honor are haram to each other” (Bukhari and Muslim) And regarding the dhimmi – the one who has a covenant with the Muslims