He said: “It is not permissible to kill a child, a woman, an intersex person, a monk, a decrepit old man, a chronically disabled person, or a blind person, provided that they have no counsel or strategic role and have neither fought nor incited others to fight.” These are seven categories whom it is not permissible to kill except in one of three cases:

First: that they possess counsel and strategic ability. Some elderly men, even if one is so decrepit that he cannot move, may possess counsel and strategic judgment that a young combatant does not have.

Second: if they fight. Thus, if women take part in the fighting, they may be killed.

Third: if they incite the combatants to fight, urging them by saying, “Do such-and-such; strike such-and-such,” and so on, then they may be killed, because they exert an influence on the fighting.

He said: “They become slaves through capture.” That is, these seven categories become slaves through being captured; the preposition indicates causation—meaning that as soon as they are taken captive, they immediately become slaves. The imam is not given a choice concerning them. Once they become slaves, they are included with the spoils of war, because they have become owned property. As owned property, they are like the rest of the wealth and are added to the spoils of war.

As for an adult combatant who is captured, the imam has a choice between four options: execution, ransom, enslavement, or releasing him without compensation.