The Palm Trees, and the Rules of Engagement

Allah says:

Whatever you have cut down of their palm trees, or left standing on their trunks, it was by the permission of Allah, and so that He would disgrace the defiantly disobedient. So this goes back to the issue of Muḥammad (peace be upon him) telling people not to destroy property, and then doing it himself. First of all, this was done by the permission of Allah, according to this āyah: fa-bi-idhni Allāh, it was by the permission of Allah. The ones that were cut down and the ones that remained — that was by the permission of Allah. Why? Wa li-yukhziya al-fāsiqīn — so that He would disgrace the defiantly disobedient.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave instructions that trees should not be cut down, and that women, children and old men should not be killed. He also said that monks who are in monasteries should not be killed.^**** However, we find that with every one of these rules there are incidents that go against the rule. So here, in the ghazwah of Banū al-Naḍīr, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave orders to burn the palms down, and that is against the ruling on cutting down trees. Then there is what is called bayāt: attacking at night. The dwellings of people are attacked at night, and the residents are killed. Salamah ibn al-Akwaʿ said, "I myself participated in bayāt, and I killed the residents of nine houses with my own hand." This is in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim.^‡ Now obviously, here men, women and children were killed, because it was at night and they could not be distinguished. So this goes against the ruling on not killing women, children and old men. We also know that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) ordered the execution of two women, and one of those women was the woman who tried to poison the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), a Jewish woman; she was executed by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). And we know that there were incidents where old men were killed, so this goes against that ruling. And with the killing of monks: we know that Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn, for example, even though he was very tolerant with the Crusaders, would specifically not let the members of the military religious orders, such as the Templars or the Hospitallers, go free. He would kill them; they were all executed if they landed in his hands. And these were monks; these were religious men. So this goes against the instruction not to kill monks.

So what is going on here? How is it that there is this contradiction? The answer to that is the following. Islam is a tolerant religion, and the religion of Islam has laid down rules of engagement. There are rules that govern jihād fī sabīlillāh, and these rules are there to protect the rights of others and to protect innocent life. However, whenever the enemy tries to take advantage of these rules and harm the Muslims, these rules are suspended. So if the enemy tries to take advantage of the Muslims by using these restrictions against them, then the Muslims are allowed to put those rules aside. To sum it up: Islam will not allow its tolerance to be used against it. So in this situation, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) ordered the cutting down of the trees of Banū al-Naḍīr because Banū al-Naḍīr were planning on a long siege and were depending on their palm trees, while they deserved the punishment because of their betrayal and because of their plotting to assassinate the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did not allow them to use his rules against the Muslims, and therefore he ordered the cutting down of the trees.