Ibn Hibban

Atiyyah Qarazi narrates: I was among those people about whom Sayyiduna Sa’d bin Mu’adh (may Allah be pleased with him) gave a verdict. They were doubtful about me—whether I would be counted among the minor children or among those who fought in battle. When they examined my pubic area, they did not find any hair grown there, so I was included among the children and was not killed. (Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) When the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) made this distinction between those to be killed and those to be spared among the captives, it was the growth of pubic hair. And then the Prophet (peace be upon him) ordered the killing of those whose pubic hair had grown, so it is established that the reason is: whoever has grown pubic hair will be considered mature and it will be permissible to kill him. And when this reason that I have mentioned is properly established, then it contains evidence that those children and women from non-Muslim territories, if they participate in battle, then they may be killed, because the reason for which the order to kill them was lifted is absent in them, and that reason is abstaining from fighting.