(1) Imam al-Shafi‘i said: “I see nothing wrong if a man charges a whole detachment bare-headed or rushes at a single opponent, even though death is the more likely outcome; someone did so in the Prophet’s presence, and on the day of Badr an Ansari charged bare-headed at a group of idolaters after the Prophet ﷺ had declared the merit of such an act, and he was killed.” Al-Umm, 4:92. (2) Imam Ahmad was asked: “A prisoner of war finds a sword or some weapon and attacks the enemy, even though he does not know whether he will escape. Has he thereby brought ruin upon himself?” He answered: “Have you not heard the saying of ‘Umar? When a man asked him about someone who had ‘cast himself into destruction’, ‘Umar replied: ‘He has exchanged the hereafter for the present world.’” Questions to Imam Ahmad, narrated by his son Salih, 2:469. Abu Dawud reports: “I heard Ahmad ibn Hanbal say: If a man knows he will be captured, I prefer that he fight until he is killed; one should not surrender himself, for captivity is harsh.” He also said, when asked about a captive already in enemy hands, “If he knows that his capture will strengthen them, he may fight them.” Questions to Imam Ahmad by Abu Dawud, 247; see also: al-Mughni, 9:176; Kashshaf al-Qina‘, 3:70. (3) The main manuscript reads: “and others”; we have adopted the wording found in the marginal note. (4) Abu Bakr al-Jassas al-Hanafi (d. 370/981), commenting on the verse, “Spend in the way of Allah, and do not throw yourselves into destruction” (Q 2:195), gives several interpretations, among them: “to hurl oneself into battle without inflicting any harm on the enemy.” This, he says, is the meaning that those whom Abu Ayyub reproached had in mind when he explained the verse’s background.