the Levant, in the region where his father was killed. As for Yubna, it is in the land of Palestine, and Usamah would not have been able to reach it, nor would the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, have commanded him to raid it, due to its distance and the danger involved in going there, because of its location in the heart of the lands and its distance from the borders of the Levant. The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, would not have commanded him to risk the Muslims; how then could the report be interpreted in that way, given the contradiction with the wording of the narration and the corruption of the meaning!
1673 - Issue: He said: (He shall not marry in the land of the enemy unless desire overcomes him, in which case he may marry a Muslim woman and practice withdrawal (azl) with her. He shall not marry among them. And whoever buys a slave woman from among them shall not have intercourse with her in the private parts while he is in their land.)
He means—and Allah knows best—one who enters the land of the enemy with a guarantee of safety (aman). As for one who is in the Muslim army, it is permissible for him to marry. It has been narrated from Sa'id ibn Abi Hilal that he was informed that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, married Abu Bakr to Asma bint Umays, and they were under the banners. Sa'id narrated it. This is because the disbelievers have no power over him, so he is like one in the Abode of Islam. As for the prisoner, the obvious view from the speech of Ahmad is that it is not permissible for him to marry as long as he is a prisoner, because he forbade him from having intercourse with his wife if she was taken prisoner with him, despite the validity of their marriage. This is the opinion of al-Zuhri, for he said: It is not permissible for a prisoner to marry as long as he is in the hands of [the enemy]. Al-Hasan disliked that he should marry as long as he was in the land of the polytheists. This is because if a child is born to the prisoner, he would be a slave to them, and he cannot be certain that someone else among them will not have intercourse with his wife. Ahmad was asked about a prisoner who had his wife taken prisoner with him: May he have intercourse with her? [He said: How could he have intercourse with her], when perhaps someone else among them might have intercourse with her!
(1) Omitted from (B). (2) In (B) and (M): "ibnat". (3) In: The Chapter on the Collection of Testimony, from the Book of Jihad. al-Sunan 2/312. (4) In the original: "al-mushrikin". (5) In (M): "dama". (6) Omitted from (B). (7) The letter "wa" is omitted from (M). (8) In (M): "ishtaraytu" (a distortion). (9) Omitted from (A). (10) In (M): "fa-la'alla".
