Lessons: Fitness, a Woman's Necessary Travel, and the Rulings on Prisoners

Some lessons from the stories told so far. First of all, in the ghazwah of Dhū Qarad the fitness of Salamah ibn al-Akwaʿ (may Allah be pleased with him) can be seen, and some of the activities that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) would practise, such as running. Salamah and this man from the Anṣār had a running competition, and that was approved by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). So the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were fit and they were strong, and this is part of the iʿdād, the preparation, which the Muslims were commanded to make: the Muslims were told to prepare for the sake of Allah (swt). Here Salamah ibn al-Akwaʿ was pursuing this enemy for an entire day without tiring out. In fact, it was they who were getting tired, and their beasts were getting tired — because, as was mentioned at the end of the hadith, they left behind them two horses. Why did they leave behind those two horses? Did you think about that? Why would they leave two horses behind them? A horse was a very valuable thing in those days, very expensive. Why would they leave a horse behind unless they had to? Because the horse was tired out. So they had to leave these two horses behind. Salamah ibn al-Akwaʿ was a very fit Companion.

From the story of the woman there is a lesson mentioned by al-Nawawī, regarding a woman travelling alone. He says that from this hadith one can derive the ruling that it is allowed for a Muslim woman to travel alone — without her husband, without a guardian, and without anyone else — if it is a necessary journey. And this is an important point he mentions: such as hijrah from the land of war to the land of Islam, and such as running away from those who want to commit indecency with her, and similar situations; and the prohibition of her travelling alone applies where there is no necessity. So this clarifies some issues here. The statement of Imām al-Nawawī (may Allah have mercy on him) clarifies this issue of the travelling of women: sometimes a Muslim woman is in great need of travelling alone, and it is a necessity for her; in that case she is allowed to, and he mentions making hijrah as an example.

It is also probably beneficial here to talk about the rulings regarding prisoners of war in general, because a few cases have now been covered of how the Muslims treated prisoners of war: the prisoners taken at Badr have already been discussed, and here there is this man from Banū ʿUqayl. What is the ruling on prisoners of war? Can they be executed? Can they be ransomed? Or should they be released? What is it exactly? Because they were treated differently in different situations.

To summarise this point, al-Shawkānī says that the madhhab of the majority of scholars is that the matter of disbelieving prisoners of war, of the men, is up to the imām: he does with them what is most beneficial for Islam and the Muslims. The men who are kuffār, who are prisoners of war — it is up to the imām to do with them what is most beneficial for the Muslims. So what does this mean? It means that, number one, they could be released without any compensation. The example of this is what the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did with Abū ʿAzzah at the Battle of Badr. Abū ʿAzzah was one of the captives, the seventy captives taken at the Battle of Badr. He pleaded with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and told him: I have daughters who are left alone, and I do not have any wealth to ransom myself, so for the sake of my daughters, release me. And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) released him without asking him for any compensation whatsoever. He was released only on condition that he would not fight against the Muslims again, and he consented to that.

The second option is to ransom them, and this is what happened with the rest of the prisoners at the Battle of Badr, such as al-ʿAbbās: they had to pay their ransom, and they were released. The third option is that they could be exchanged for Muslim prisoners, and the example of that is what was just told about this man from Banū ʿUqayl: he was exchanged for two Muslim prisoners. The next option is that they be executed. This is what the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did with al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith and ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ at the Battle of Badr, and with Abū ʿAzzah when he was arrested again at the Battle of Uḥud.^* When he was captured again at the Battle of Uḥud, he had already promised that he would not fight against the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and now he was caught fighting against the Muslims, so he was executed. And also the entire fighting force of Banū Qurayẓah, the Jewish tribe: the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) ordered that they be put to death. So these are the different options the imām has regarding prisoners of war. Next comes the important event of al-Ḥudaybiyah.