Tweet
Defending the Transgressed, by Censuring the Reckless against the Killing of Civilians (Mudâfi' al-Mazlûm bi-Radd al-Muhâmil 'alâ Qitâl Man Lâ Yuqâtil)
From the fatwa:
From the fatwa:
The proposition: "so it is acceptable for them to attack the non-Muslims in the west", where "non-Muslims" can be taken to mean, and indeed does mean in the document, non-combatants, civilians, or in the terminology of fiqh: those who are not engaged in direct combat [man la yuqâtilu].
This opinion violates a well known principal rule [dâbit] from our Law:
[Arabic: la yajuzu qatlu nisa’ihim wa la sibyanihim idha lam yuqatilu]
[it is not permissible to kill their [i.e., the opponents'] women and children if they are not in direct combat.]
This is based on the Prophetic prohibition on soldiers from killing women and children, from the well known Hadith of Ibn 'Umar (may Allâh be pleased with them both!) related by Imams Malik, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad, al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, al-Bayhaqi and al-Baghawi (may Allâh be well pleased with them all!) and other Hadiths.
Imam al-Subki (may Allâh be pleased with him!) made it unequivocally clear what scholars have understood from this prohibition in which the standard rule of engagement taken from it is that: "[a Muslim soldier] may not kill any women or any child-soldiers unless they are in combat directly, and they can only be killed in self-defence" [al-Nawawi, Majmû', 21:57].
It goes without saying that men and innocent bystanders who are not direct combatants are also included in this prohibition. The nature of this prohibition is so specific and well-defined that there can be no legal justification, nor can there be a legitimate shar'î excuse, for circumventing this convention of war by targeting non-combatants or civilians whatsoever, and that the hukm shar'î of killing them is not only harâm but also a Major Sin [Kabira] and contravenes one of the principal commandments of our way of life.
The fatwa is available here: http://www.warda.info/fatwa.pdf, http://www.livingislam.org/maa/dcmm_e.html, http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/misc/de..._civilians.htm
This opinion violates a well known principal rule [dâbit] from our Law:
[Arabic: la yajuzu qatlu nisa’ihim wa la sibyanihim idha lam yuqatilu]
[it is not permissible to kill their [i.e., the opponents'] women and children if they are not in direct combat.]
This is based on the Prophetic prohibition on soldiers from killing women and children, from the well known Hadith of Ibn 'Umar (may Allâh be pleased with them both!) related by Imams Malik, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad, al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, al-Bayhaqi and al-Baghawi (may Allâh be well pleased with them all!) and other Hadiths.
Imam al-Subki (may Allâh be pleased with him!) made it unequivocally clear what scholars have understood from this prohibition in which the standard rule of engagement taken from it is that: "[a Muslim soldier] may not kill any women or any child-soldiers unless they are in combat directly, and they can only be killed in self-defence" [al-Nawawi, Majmû', 21:57].
It goes without saying that men and innocent bystanders who are not direct combatants are also included in this prohibition. The nature of this prohibition is so specific and well-defined that there can be no legal justification, nor can there be a legitimate shar'î excuse, for circumventing this convention of war by targeting non-combatants or civilians whatsoever, and that the hukm shar'î of killing them is not only harâm but also a Major Sin [Kabira] and contravenes one of the principal commandments of our way of life.
Comment