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Is there a hadith that speaks of a trade embargo on Iraq, Syria and Egypt?

Question: 128708

There is a hadith that speaks of a trade embargo on Iraq, Syria and Egypt. Has that actually happened, or is it what we see happening before our eyes?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

It seems that the hadith referred to in the question is the
report narrated by Muslim in his Saheeh (2896) from Abu Hurayrah (may
Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Iraq will withhold its dirhams and qafeez
(a measurement of grain), Syria will withhold its mudds and dinars, and
Egypt will withhold its irdabb and dinars, and you will return to where you
started, you will return to where you started, you will return to where you
started.” The flesh and blood of Abu Hurayrah bear witness to that.

Al-Bukhaari (3180) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be
pleased with him) said: How will you be when you are not able to collect any
dinars or dirhams? It was said to him: On what basis do you say that will
happen, O Abu Hurayrah? He said: By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Abu
Hurayrah, (I learned that) from the words of the most truthful one (i.e.,
the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)). They said: What did
he say? He said: “The covenant granted by Allah and His Messenger (to the
dhimmis) will be transgressed, so Allah will make the hearts of ahl
adh-dhimmah so bold that they will withhold the jizyah they are supposed to
pay.”

An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

There are two views as to what is meant by Iraq and the other
regions withholding (money and grains). The first view is that what is meant
is that they will become Muslim, so the jizyah will be waived from them, and
this is something that already happened.

The second view – which is more well-known – is that what is
meant is that the Persians and Romans (Byzantines) will seize control of
these lands at the end of time, and they will prevent the Muslims from
obtaining these things. A few pages after this, Muslim narrated that Jaabir
said: Soon there will not be brought to the people of Iraq any qafeez or
dirham. We said: Why is that? He said: Because the non-Arabs will prevent
it. And he mentioned how the Romans would do likewise in Syria. This has
happened in our own time in Iraq; it is going on right now.

And it was said that it is because they will apostatise at
the end of time, so they will withhold what is required from them of zakaah
and so on. And it was said that what is meant is that the disbelievers from
whom jizyah is required will grow stronger at the end of time, so they will
withhold what they used to pay of jizyah, kharaaj and so on.

With regard to the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him), “and you will return to where you started”, this
means the same as the other hadith, “Islam began as something strange and
will go back to being as it began.” End quote.

Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

The words “They will withhold what is in their hands” mean:
they will refuse to pay the jizyah. Al-Humaydi said: Muslim narrated a
similar hadith via another isnaad from Suhayl from his father from Abu
Hurayrah, which was attributed to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him): “Iraq will withhold its dirhams and qafeez…” And he quoted the
hadith using the past tense, but what is meant is the future, so as to
emphasise that it will surely come to pass. Muslim also narrated from Jaabir
in a marfoo‘ report: “Soon there will not  be brought to the people of Iraq
any camels or dirhams. We said: Why is that? He said: Because the non-Arabs
will prevent it.” This is one of the signs of Prophethood and is advice to
fulfil the covenant with ahl adh-dhimmah, in return for the jizyah that is
taken from them, which benefits the Muslims. It is also a warning against
mistreating them, and indicates that if that happens, then ahl adh-dhimmah
will break the covenant and the Muslims will not be able to collect anything
from them, which will cause hardship to the Muslims.

Ibn Hazm stated that some of the Maalikis quoted the words in
the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, “Iraq will withhold its dirhams” as evidence
that land seized as booty is not to be divided or sold, and that what is
meant by withholding is withholding of the kharaaj. But he refuted that by
noting that the hadith contains a warning of a bad fate, and that the
Muslims will ultimately be deprived of their rights, and this is what
happened. End quote.     

See: Nayl al-Awtaar by ash-Shawkaani (8/118); an-Nihaayah
by Ibn al-Atheer (1/262)

From the above we may conclude that the more likely
interpretation of the hadith is that the disbelievers, namely the Romans and
Persians, will take authority from the Muslims in these lands, after they
had been subject to the Muslims’ authority, and they will withhold its
resources and kharaaj from the Muslims. This has happened repeatedly
throughout history, the most recent case being the colonisation of these
lands and the abolishing of the authority of the Ottoman caliphate over
them, and the disbelievers’ domination of their people and resources.

As for the present situation, where the disbelievers are
controlling Iraq and have taken over its resources, we cannot be certain
that this is exactly what is meant in the hadith, and to state that this is
definitely what is meant by the hadith is risky. Many people are hasty in
jumping to conclusions with regard to such matters, but it soon becomes
clear that they are mistaken and were too audacious regarding this issue.

This does not rule out the idea that such a thing could
happen repeatedly, and that the present case is one such instance. In fact
they have done something that is even worse than that, by preventing the
resources of Iraq from reaching the Muslim lands, then besieging Iraq and
its people, preventing goods from reaching them, and preventing them from
benefitting from their own resources, until many children died, let alone
women and men.

And Allah knows best.

Source

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