How Abu Bakr killed those who refused to pay the zakat

Zakat is one of the Obligatory pillars of Islam. Denying a Pillar makes one a kaafir an apostate and then in an Islamic ruling state , such an apostate if does not repent is killed . As for those Muslims who accept its obligation yet they hate to spend the money Allah gave them in the way of Allah itself (via zakat) incur the wrath of Allah bidhnillah

In this article, i will compile the narrations that speak of the events that took place between Khaleefatur-Rasoolillah - Abu Bakr as-siddeeq - and the apostates who obeyed everything of Islam except zakaat. Among the tips and tricks of searching a hadeeth - the easiest way to search the takhreej for these narrations is to search in 

Jaami al-Jawami of Imam suyuti as-sufi rahimahullah [See: http://shamela.ws/index.php/book/1438] 

Jaami al-Masaneed of Imam ibn Katheer as-salafi rahimahullah 

The students of hadeeth know why i have mentioned these two names. 

Bismillahi salatu was-salaam `ala rasoolallah , `amma ba3d 

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that

“When the RasoolAllah (sallalahu `alayhi wa sallam) breathed his last and Abu Bakr was appointed as his successor (Caliph), those amongst the Arabs who wanted to become apostates became apostates. `Umar (radhiallahu `anhu) ibn Khattab said to Abu Bakr: Why would you fight against the people, when RasoolAllah (sallalahu `alayhi wa sallam) declared: I have been directed to fight against people so long as they do not say: There is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was granted full protection of his property and life on my behalf except for a right? His (other) affairs rest with Allah. Upon this Abu Bakr said: By Allah, I would definitely fight against him who severed prayer from Zakat, for it is the obligation upon the rich. By Allah, I would fight against them even to secure the cord (used for hobbling the feet of a camel) which they used to give to RasoolAllah (as zakat) but now they have withheld it. `Umar b. Khattab remarked: By Allah, I found nothing but the fact that Allah had opened the heart of Abu Bakr for (perceiving the justification of) fighting (against those who refused to pay Zakat) and I fully recognized that the (stand of Abu Bakr) was right.” 

[Ref: Ibn Jawzi, Muntazam 4/76; Bukhaari; Muslim; Abu Dawud 1556; Nasa'e, Mujtaba 5/14, 15; Tirmidhi 2733; Baladhuri's Futuhul Buldan 1/113; Ahmad in his Musnad; Bayhaqi, Sunan al-Kubra; Hakim 2/522; Abdur-Razzak no 6916, 10020, 18718; Hatib 9/315, 10/464, 12/201; Bukhaari Tareekhul-Kaber 3/367, 7/35; Ibn Abi Shayba 10/122, 123, 12/374, 376, 377, 380; Tabarani in his Mu`jam al-Kaber 2/198, 347, 6/161, 8/382; Sa`eed ibn Mansur Sunan 2901, 2933 etc]

Both al-Bukhari, in "The Book of Calling the Apostates to Repent" in "The Chapter on Killing those who Refuse to Accept the Obligatory Laws and those Associated with Apostacy"; and Muslim, in "The Book of Faith" in "The Chapter on the Order to Fight People", report, on the authority of Abu Hurayra, who said:

 "After the Prophet had died, and Abu Bakr was made his successor, there were [some] Arabs who turned to disbelief. `Umar (radhiallahu `anhu) said: 'Oh Abu Bakr! How can you fight the people when the Prophet of Allah (sallalahu `alayhi wa sallam) has said: 'I have been ordered to fight the people until they say: 'There is no God but Allah' and whoever says this, makes himself and his property inviolable except by legal right, and his reckoning is with Allah?' Abu Bakr replied: 'By Allah! I will fight whoever differentiates between salah and zakat , for zakat is a lawful right upon the property (that Allah gave)! By Allah! Were they to withhold even a single animal that they used to give (as zakat to) the Prophet of Allah (sallalahu `alayhi wa sallam) , I will fight them over their withholding it'. Then `Umar (radhiallahu `anhu) said: 'By Allah! I saw then that Allah had opened the heart of Abu Bakr to [the cause of] fighting, and I realized then that it was correct".
Ibn Kathir in his Tareekh stated: 

“Some Arab delegates began to come to Madinah. They accept the performance of salah but they are not willing to pay zakah. Although some of them accept to pay zakah they did not want to give it to Abu Bakr. Furthermore some of them from those who did not want to give it to Abu Bakr presented the following ayah as evidence: “Of their goods, take alms, that so thou mightest purify and sanctify them; and pray on their behalf. Verily thy prayers are a source of security for them: And Allah is One Who heareth and knoweth” (At-Tawba 9; 103) and stated “we will only pay zakah to the one whose dua is trust for us.” ) [1]

Some among them uttered this poem:

“We obeyed RasoolAllah as long as he was amongst us.
Yet what is the hakimiyyah (rulership or right to rulership) of Abu Bakr?
We are bewildered.”

[1] Notice how these people self interpreted the verse? They used their own `aqal and own intellect to understand the verse of qur`an even when the sahaaba upon whose lives and situations these verses were revealed were alive and standing in front of them ! This is the audacity of the ignorant who self interpret qur`an and hadeeth, leaving the understanding of the scholars and fahm of salaf. 

Please see the following links : 

(i) WARNING FROM SELF INTERPRETATION OF QURAN AND HADEETH

(ii) The Obligation of seeking knowledge via the understanding of the salafus saliheen and 

(iii) THE OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF SEEKING KNOWLEDGE FROM THE SCHOLARS

Hafidh ibn `Asakir ad-Dimashqi narrated Salih ibn Kaysan said: 

“After the situation of irtidat (apostasy) occurred Abu Bakr stood up among people and after making hamd (praise) to Allah said: “Indeed the Arabs among you do not want to give their sheep and camel as zakah. Even if they return to deen, while they had not been in deen before the Prophet had never had any need for them and you as Muslims have never been so strong. This is because of the blessing of your Prophet (sallalahu `alayhi wa sallam) from before… He (Abu Bakr) called the people of madeenah for a meeting in Masjid un-Nabawi. At the commencement of the meeting he did the following speech: 

“Indeed the dunya (world) is kafir. The delegates on the face of the earth have seen you are little in number. You do not know if they will come upon you during the night or the day. The closest ones to you are in a distance of one barid. They hope that we accept their salah and the fact that they will not be giving zakah but we did not accept this proposal. Do the needed preparation (of a war) for them. They may attack you.”… The tribes of Bani Zubyan and Bani Abs attacked the Muslim who lived among them and killed them. The rest of the tribes did the same thing. Upon this Abu Bakr had made an oath to kill an equal amount or more from the tribes which had killed the Muslim. 

[Ref: Ibn Katheer, Al Bidaya Wa'n-Nihaya, Volume 6 having an entire section dedicated to riddah]

Narrating from Tabari and Ibn Jawzi, Dhahabi stated: 

“Urwa and the rest narrated: Abu bakr (radhiallahu `anhu) had set off with an army constituting from the muhajiroon and the ansaar. He came to a place called Nak aligned with the area of Najd. The badawi took their children and ran away. Abu Bakr made a consultation with those with him. They told him to return to Madeena to be with the children and women and to appoint someone else to lead the army. He appointed Khaled ibn Waled and returned. Before leaving he told Khalid to allow those from among the murtad who returns to Islam and pays zakah to retun to Madinah. And he was sent off.

[Ref: Tabari relates a narration similar from Ibn Hisham Kalabi 2/160, Ibn Jawzi in al-Muntazam 4/76) ; Tarikh ul Islam Wafayat ul Mashahiri wal alam, Dhahabi, in the 5th Volume]

“The Hawazin informed that they would not be paying their zakah. When news of irtidat spread from all over to Abu Bakr (radhiallahu `anhu) he tried to revert them back to Islam by sending representatives and waited for the return of the army of Usama. However he was forced to take action to destroy the dangers caused by the attack of the Abs and Zubyan tribes (against Muslims). Meanwhile other representatives from some tribes came to Madinah and notified them that they would perform salah but would not pay zakah. They wanted this situation to be accepted. Abu Bakr gave the following sharp answer to the ambassadors: “Until you give me ropes to tie up the animals as your payment of zakah I will fight with you”

[Ref: Tabari 3/244, the english version]

In the Tarikh of Ibn Atheer (rahimahullah) the following has been recorded: 

“A war occurred between the Muslim from among the Bani Tamim and those who became murtad by not paying zakah.” 

Ibn Hazm narrates the attitude of the sahabah and the opinion of Abu Bakr:

 “… some stated” I will perform salah; but I will not pay zakah.” Most of the sahabah were saying they accepted them to be Muslim and that there should be no need to fight with them. Abu Bakr did not agree to this thought. He sent the army of Usama ibn Zayd. This army went up to the border of Syria. They arranged an unexpected attack on the Kudaa tribe and returned. In another hadeeth the heavy conditions brought at the end of the war had been mentioned: “After victory Abu Bakr (radhiallahu `anhu) said the following to the murtad: 

“Choose! A destructive war or peace with humiliation for you " they answered: “We saw the destructive war. What is peace in vulgarity? Abu Bakr answered: “You will pay diyah (blood money to compensate ) for our dead (but) We  (Muslims) will not pay diyah for your dead. You will openly testify that our dead will go to jannah and yours to jahannam (as they died upon kufr for rejecting the obligation of zakat). You will return what you had taken from us. We will not return what we took from you. All your weaponry will be taken from you, you will be restricted form riding horses and until the hukm of the amr al mumineen and the Muslimineen changes you will live among the Muslim in disgrace (as a reminder to what you did).”

They answered: “We accept this Oh you the caliph of RasoolAllah!” 

`Umar ibn Hatab (radhiallahu `anhu who was on the Muslim side) said: “O caliph of RasoolAllah! I accept everything you say. However I do not accept diyah for our dead. Because those who died from among us died on the path Allah they are martyrs and their reward belongs to Allah (so no need to compensate for our shuhada).” All the sahabah accepted the view of `Umar (radhiallahu `anhu).”

[Ref: Bayhaqi, Al Barkani narrated according to the conditions of Bukhari.]

Sheikh Abdullah ibn As-Shayh Muhammad ibn AbdulWahhab narrated the following from Ibn Taymiyyah: At the end of his article regarding the kufr of those who did not pay zakah Ibn Taymiyyah (radhiallahu `anhu) stated: 

“The sahabah did not ask them if they believed it was fard or if they did not believe so. An approach as such has never been narrated by the sahabah. On the contrary As Siddiq (radhiallahu `anhu) said to `Umar (radhiallahu `anhu): “Wallahi if they withhold a goat they used to give RasoolAllah I will fight them for this reason. As seen Abu Bakr (radhiallahu `anhu) he did not give the disbelief of zakah as a reason of war he gave it for not giving it. Likewise it had been narrated that a group from among them did believe it was fard to pay zakah however avoided giving zakah. In spite of this the attitude of the Caliph towards them had always been the same. This attitude had been that their warriors are killed, the families are taken as slaves, and their estates are confiscated as spoils also the shahadah (testimony) that their dead will go to jahannam. Furthermore he had characterized all of them as ahl ridda (people of apostasy). Thus the greatest virtue of Siddiq (radhiallahu `anhu) beside them had been the fact that Allah had made him determined to fight the murtadeen (apostates). He had not hesitated like others on the contrary he argued (and debated) with them and made them (the Muslims) accept his view.
When it comes to those who believed in the Nubuwwa of Musaylima the liar who claimed to be a prophet during the time of the Messenger of Allah Muhammad :

Among the sahabah there had been no argument regarding the matter of fighting against them (the group of Musailamah the false prophet). This (action of the sahaaba) is a hujjah against those who say " If they go to war with the imam to not give (Zakat) they will become kafir, otherwise they will not be (kafir). 

The reason for this (statement being false) is without doubt because other than those who do not fight with their leader (to not give zakat) , it is with ittifaq (agreement) as supported by the nass (texts) in the book of Allah and the prophetic sunnah and also the sunnah of the sahabah  that their (the people who don't fight or support their leader in not paying zakat yet believe that zakat should not be paid ) are already included in kufr and ahl ridda (people of apostasy) ....
This statement and explanation must be thought over: It is fought against the group who rejected to pay zakah to the imam (of Muslims). They carry the ruling or hukm of committing kufr and irtidat (murtad) {for not paying zakat). Their families are taken as slaves and their properties are accounted as spoils. If they are to believe zakah is fard, perform salah 5 times a day and even if they perform all of the necessities of Islam this does not lift the hukm given to them as kafir and murtad and does not lift the need to fight against them. This matter is fixed with the Qur’an, sunnah and the ittifaq of the sahaba. Allahu Alim.” 

[Ref: Al Kalimat’un Nafia fi’l Mukaffirat’il Wakia, 17; The 10th risala of Akida al Muwahhidin)

Ibn Taymiyya states: “Without doubt the sahaba and the imams after them had made ittifak regarding going to war with them; even if they performed salah and fasted in Ramadan. These have not been valid doubts for the sahaba regarding this matter. The sahaba had fought them as Allah had commanded because they did not give Zakat; even if they had stated it (i.e. giving zakat) was fard.” 

[Ref: Ibn Taymiyyah, Fatawa 28/ 519; Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab, Siyar ul Muhtasar]