Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
(During war) It is forbidden to kill women, children, and the elderly unless there is a (extreme) necessity.
➊ It is narrated from Ḥabrat Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما that the Prophet ﷺ saw in a battle a woman who had been killed:
نهي عن قتل النساء والصبيان
“He forbade the killing of women and children.”
[Al-Bukhārī: 3015, Kitāb al-Jihād wa al-Siyar: Bāb Qatl al-Nisā fī al-Ḥarb; Muslim: 1744; Abū Dāwūd: 2668; Tirmidhī: 1569; Ibn Mājah: 2841; Nisāʼī fī al-Sunan al-Kubrā: 175/5; Muʿtā: 447/2; Dāramī: 223/2; Aḥmad: 122/2]
➋ It is narrated from Ribāḥ ibn Rabīʿ رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
لا تقتلوا ذرية ولا عسيفا
“Do not kill offspring (children) nor laborers.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd: 2324, Kitāb al-Jihād: Bāb fī Qatl al-Nisā; al-Ṣaḥīḥah: 701; Abū Dāwūd: 2669; Nisāʼī fī al-Sunan al-Kubrā: 186/5; Ibn Mājah: 2842; Aḥmad: 488/3; Ḥākim: 122/2; Bayhaqī: 91/9]
➌ When the Prophet ﷺ sent people toward Ibn Abī al-Ḥaqīq, he forbade the killing of women and children:
نهى عن قتــل الــنـســـاء والـصـبيـــان
[Bayhaqī: 78/9; ʿAbd al-Razāq: 407/5; Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid: 318/5 — Imām Haythamī judged its narrators as ṣaḥīḥ.]
➍ It is reported from Anas رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
لا تقتلوا شيخا فانيا ولا طفلا صغيرا ولا امرأة
“Do not kill an extremely old man, nor a little child, nor a woman.”
[Weak: Ḍaʿīf Abū Dāwūd: 561, Kitāb al-Jihād: Bāb fī Duʿāʾ al-Mushrikīn; Abū Dāwūd: 2614]
➎ It is narrated from Samarah رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
اقتلو الشيوخ المشركين واستبقوا شرخهم
“Kill the experienced/skillful elderly polytheists and spare those who have not reached the age of maturity.”
[Weak: Ḍaʿīf Abū Dāwūd: 571; Tirmidhī: 1583, Kitāb al-Siyar: Bāb mā jāʾa fī al-nuzūl ʿalā al-ḥukm; Abū Dāwūd: 2670 — Shaykh Ḥāẓim ʿalā Qāḍī considered this ḥadīth ṣaḥīḥ. (Commentary on Subul al-Salām: 1768/4)]
The two above narrations are weak. Imām Shawkānī رحمه الله considered them usable and reconciled between them by stating: “Such elderly persons are not to be killed who neither benefit the disbelievers nor harm the Muslims; but seasoned/skillful elders who are warriors must necessarily be killed.”
[Nayl al-Awṭār: 719/4]
➏ It is narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
لا تقتلوا الوالدان ولا أصحاب الصوامع
“Do not kill parents (offspring) nor the worshippers of monasteries (hermits).”
[Aḥmad: 266/1 — note: in this narration the transmitter Ibrāhīm ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Ḥabībah is weak. See al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr: 271/1; al-Majrūḥīn: 109/1; al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl: 83/2; Mizān al-Iʿtidāl: 19/1]
Necessity Exception (Ḍarūrah)
Killing them is permissible at times of necessity, as explained in the forthcoming narration regarding surprise attack (night raid), where the Companions asked the Prophet ﷺ about night-raids in which women and children are also struck, and he replied:
هم منهم
“They are from them (i.e., part of them).”
[Al-Bukhārī: 3012, Kitāb al-Jihād wa al-Siyar: Bāb Ahl al-Dār yubītūn fa yuṣāb al-wilādān wa al-dhurārī]
Imām Nawawī رحمه الله explains that هم منهم does not mean to go and kill them with the intention of killing women and children, rather it permits this only when reaching the combatants without striking them (i.e., without harming non-combatants) is impossible.
[Sharḥ Muslim: 293/6]
Imām ash-Shāfiʿī رحمه الله and the people of Kūfah hold that any woman who initiates hostilities may be killed.
[As cited in Nayl al-Awṭār: 718/4]
Scholars, drawing analogy from the dervish or ineffective old man, state that persons from whom no benefit or harm is ever expected (e.g., the blind or permanently non-combatant) are likewise not to be killed.
[Nayl al-Awṭār: 719/4; al-Umm li-al-Shāfiʿī: 350/7; al-Mabsūṭ: 29/10; al-Mughni: 177/13; Bidāyat al-Mujtahid: 382/1]
(During war) It is forbidden to kill women, children, and the elderly unless there is a (extreme) necessity.
➊ It is narrated from Ḥabrat Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما that the Prophet ﷺ saw in a battle a woman who had been killed:
نهي عن قتل النساء والصبيان
“He forbade the killing of women and children.”
[Al-Bukhārī: 3015, Kitāb al-Jihād wa al-Siyar: Bāb Qatl al-Nisā fī al-Ḥarb; Muslim: 1744; Abū Dāwūd: 2668; Tirmidhī: 1569; Ibn Mājah: 2841; Nisāʼī fī al-Sunan al-Kubrā: 175/5; Muʿtā: 447/2; Dāramī: 223/2; Aḥmad: 122/2]
➋ It is narrated from Ribāḥ ibn Rabīʿ رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
لا تقتلوا ذرية ولا عسيفا
“Do not kill offspring (children) nor laborers.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd: 2324, Kitāb al-Jihād: Bāb fī Qatl al-Nisā; al-Ṣaḥīḥah: 701; Abū Dāwūd: 2669; Nisāʼī fī al-Sunan al-Kubrā: 186/5; Ibn Mājah: 2842; Aḥmad: 488/3; Ḥākim: 122/2; Bayhaqī: 91/9]
➌ When the Prophet ﷺ sent people toward Ibn Abī al-Ḥaqīq, he forbade the killing of women and children:
نهى عن قتــل الــنـســـاء والـصـبيـــان
[Bayhaqī: 78/9; ʿAbd al-Razāq: 407/5; Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid: 318/5 — Imām Haythamī judged its narrators as ṣaḥīḥ.]
➍ It is reported from Anas رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
لا تقتلوا شيخا فانيا ولا طفلا صغيرا ولا امرأة
“Do not kill an extremely old man, nor a little child, nor a woman.”
[Weak: Ḍaʿīf Abū Dāwūd: 561, Kitāb al-Jihād: Bāb fī Duʿāʾ al-Mushrikīn; Abū Dāwūd: 2614]
➎ It is narrated from Samarah رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
اقتلو الشيوخ المشركين واستبقوا شرخهم
“Kill the experienced/skillful elderly polytheists and spare those who have not reached the age of maturity.”
[Weak: Ḍaʿīf Abū Dāwūd: 571; Tirmidhī: 1583, Kitāb al-Siyar: Bāb mā jāʾa fī al-nuzūl ʿalā al-ḥukm; Abū Dāwūd: 2670 — Shaykh Ḥāẓim ʿalā Qāḍī considered this ḥadīth ṣaḥīḥ. (Commentary on Subul al-Salām: 1768/4)]
The two above narrations are weak. Imām Shawkānī رحمه الله considered them usable and reconciled between them by stating: “Such elderly persons are not to be killed who neither benefit the disbelievers nor harm the Muslims; but seasoned/skillful elders who are warriors must necessarily be killed.”
[Nayl al-Awṭār: 719/4]
➏ It is narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
لا تقتلوا الوالدان ولا أصحاب الصوامع
“Do not kill parents (offspring) nor the worshippers of monasteries (hermits).”
[Aḥmad: 266/1 — note: in this narration the transmitter Ibrāhīm ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Ḥabībah is weak. See al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr: 271/1; al-Majrūḥīn: 109/1; al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl: 83/2; Mizān al-Iʿtidāl: 19/1]
Necessity Exception (Ḍarūrah)
Killing them is permissible at times of necessity, as explained in the forthcoming narration regarding surprise attack (night raid), where the Companions asked the Prophet ﷺ about night-raids in which women and children are also struck, and he replied:
هم منهم
“They are from them (i.e., part of them).”
[Al-Bukhārī: 3012, Kitāb al-Jihād wa al-Siyar: Bāb Ahl al-Dār yubītūn fa yuṣāb al-wilādān wa al-dhurārī]
Imām Nawawī رحمه الله explains that هم منهم does not mean to go and kill them with the intention of killing women and children, rather it permits this only when reaching the combatants without striking them (i.e., without harming non-combatants) is impossible.
[Sharḥ Muslim: 293/6]
Imām ash-Shāfiʿī رحمه الله and the people of Kūfah hold that any woman who initiates hostilities may be killed.
[As cited in Nayl al-Awṭār: 718/4]
Scholars, drawing analogy from the dervish or ineffective old man, state that persons from whom no benefit or harm is ever expected (e.g., the blind or permanently non-combatant) are likewise not to be killed.
[Nayl al-Awṭār: 719/4; al-Umm li-al-Shāfiʿī: 350/7; al-Mabsūṭ: 29/10; al-Mughni: 177/13; Bidāyat al-Mujtahid: 382/1]
