their ransom, and their ransom was considered booty. This is also because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) only assigned the spoils to the killer, and the captor is not a killer. Furthermore, the Imam has the discretion regarding captives; if the spoils belonged to the one who captured them, the matter would be his instead of the Imam's.

The fourth condition: He must risk his own life in killing the enemy. If he shoots him with an arrow from the ranks of the Muslims and kills him, he is not entitled to any spoils. Ahmad said: "Spoils for the killer only apply in single combat (mubarazah), not in retreat." If a group of Muslims charge against one individual and kill him (27), the spoils become part of the general booty because they did not risk their individual lives in killing him. If two people participate in killing him, the apparent view from Ahmad is that his spoils are part of the booty, for he said in a report by Harb: "He is entitled to the spoils if he acts alone in killing him." Abu al-Khattab narrated from al-Qadi that they both share in his spoils, based on the saying: "Whoever kills a person, he is entitled to his spoils." This applies to both the individual and the group, and because they both participated in the cause, they should participate in the spoils. Our evidence is that the spoils are only merited by risking one's life in the act of killing him, and this is not achieved by the killing of two people. Therefore, the spoils are not merited, just as if a group killed him, and it has not reached us that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) ever shared spoils between two people (28). If two people participate in striking him, and one of them was more effective in killing him than the other, the spoils belong to him; because Abu Jahl was struck by Mu'adh ibn 'Amr ibn al-Jamuh and Mu'adh ibn 'Afra', and they came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and informed him, so he said: "Both of you killed him," and he judged his spoils to Mu'adh ibn 'Amr ibn al-Jamuh. If all the infidels flee, and a person catches up with one of the fugitives (29) and kills him, he is not entitled to any spoils because he did not risk his life in killing him. However, if the war is still ongoing and one of them flees, and a person kills him, his spoils belong to his killer, because war involves retreating and attacking. Salamah ibn al-Akwa' killed a scout of the infidels while he was fleeing, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked: "Who killed him?" They said: "Salamah ibn al-Akwa'." He said: "He is entitled to all his spoils" (30). This is the opinion of al-Shafi'i. And he said: