"A People of Scripture"

In another narration in al-Bukhārī (1496), Ibn ʿAbbās says that when Muʿādh ibn Jabal was sent to Yemen, he told him: you are coming to a people who are people of a scripture — because of the people of Yemen, those in Najrān were Christian, and many of the rest were Jews: they were Arabs by ancestry, but they had adopted the religion of Judaism. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him: you are coming to a people who are people of a scripture; so call them to testify that there is no one worthy of worship but Allah, and that Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah. If they accept that, then tell them that Allah has obligated upon them five prayers every day and night. If they accept that, then tell them that Allah has obligated upon them to pay zakāh, charity, which is taken from the rich among them and given to the poor among them.

And this is evidence for those who say that the zakāh should be collected in a locality and spent in the same locality: the evidence they use is this hadith. Now the scholars say that that is better; however, if the need is greater in another area, then you can send the zakāh — or your ṣadaqah — to that other area. If they accept that, then beware of taking the best of their property: meaning, when you go to choose — for example the animals you will take for zakāh, from the sheep or from the cattle — do not choose the best; choose the average; not the worst, nor the best. And beware of the prayer of the oppressed, for there is no barrier between it and Allah. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was telling Muʿādh to be careful not to oppress anyone: because if you oppress anyone, and that person makes a duʿāʾ against you, that duʿāʾ will reach Allah, and nothing will stand between it and Allah. So we need to be careful not to oppress anyone, because oppression is a great sin on the Day of Judgement. One can also see from this hadith the step-by-step daʿwah that people should follow, step by step: the shahādah first, then the ṣalāh, then the zakāh.