no benefit in it (3), and the Imam is only permitted to do that which contains benefit. It was narrated from al-Hasan, 'Ata', and Sa'id ibn Jubayr that they disliked killing prisoners, and they said: If he shows them favor or ransoms them, it is as was done with the prisoners of Badr. This is because Allah Almighty said: "Then either grant them favors afterwards or exact a ransom" (4), so He gave the choice after capture between these two, and nothing else. The scholars of opinion (Ashab al-Ra'y) said: If he wishes, he may strike their necks, and if he wishes, he may enslave them, and nothing else; it is not permissible to show favor or to ransom, because Allah Almighty said: "Kill the polytheists wherever you find them" (5), following His statement: "Then either grant them favors afterwards or exact a ransom." Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz and 'Iyad ibn Uqba used to kill the prisoners. Our evidence for the permissibility of showing favor and ransom is the word of Allah Almighty: "Then either grant them favors afterwards or exact a ransom." Furthermore, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) showed favor to Thumama ibn Uthal (6), Abu 'Azza the poet (7), and Abu al-'As ibn al-Rabi' (8), and he said regarding the prisoners of Badr: "If Mut'im ibn 'Adi were alive, then asked me for these filthy ones, I would have released them for him" (9). He also accepted ransom for the prisoners of Badr, and they were...
(3) Omitted from the original. (4) Surah Muhammad, 4. (5) Surah al-Tawbah, 5. (6) The hadith of Thumama was extracted by al-Bukhari, in: The Chapter on the Prisoner or Debtor Being Bound in the Mosque, and The Chapter on the Entry of the Polytheist into the Mosque, from the Book of Prayer; and in: The Chapter on the Delegation of Banu Hanifa and the Hadith of Thumama ibn Uthal, from the Book of Military Expeditions (Maghazi). Sahih al-Bukhari 1/125, 127, 5/214, 215. Muslim, in: The Chapter on Binding the Prisoner, Detaining Him, and the Permissibility of Showing Favor to Him, from the Book of Jihad and Expeditions. Sahih Muslim 3/186. Abu Dawud, in: The Chapter on the Prisoner Being Bound, from the Book of Jihad. Sunan Abi Dawud 2/52. Al-Nasa'i, in brief, in: The Chapter on Recommending the Bathing of a Disbeliever if He Wishes to Convert to Islam, from the Book of Purification; and in: The Chapter on Binding the Prisoner to the Pillar of the Mosque, from the Book of Prayer. Al-Mujtaba 1/91, 92, 2/36. Al-Bayhaqi, in: The Chapter on What Is Done with Adult Men Among Them, from the Book of Expeditions (Siyar). Al-Sunan al-Kubra 9/65, 66. (7) It will be mentioned on the next page that he killed him on the day of Uhud. It was extracted by al-Bayhaqi in the previous chapter. Al-Sunan al-Kubra 9/65. Al-Waqidi mentioned his story in al-Maghazi 1/110, 111, 142, 201, 308, 309. (8) Extracted by Abu Dawud, in: The Chapter on Ransoming the Prisoner with Wealth, from the Book of Jihad. Sunan Abi Dawud 2/56, 57. (9) Extracted by al-Bukhari, in: The Chapter on What the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) Showed Favor to the Prisoners Without Taking a Fifth, from the Book of Obligating the Fifth. Sahih al-Bukhari 4/111. Abu Dawud, in: The Chapter on Showing Favor to the Prisoner Without Ransom, from the Book of Jihad. Sunan Abi Dawud 2/56. Imam Ahmad, in: Al-Musnad 4/80. 'Abd al-Razzaq, in: The Chapter on Killing the People of Polytheism by Patience (Sabran) and Ransoming Prisoners, from the Book of Jihad. Al-Musannaf 2/209. Al-Bayhaqi, in: The Chapter on What Is Done with Adult Men Among Them, from the Book of Expeditions. Al-Sunan al-Kubra 9/67.
