nor those who inhabit monastic cells.” [Aḥmad] and other reports convey the same ruling.

2 – Nevertheless, battlefield tactics may at times compel the commander to launch a surprise night raid and employ mass force, an operation that could inadvertently strike women and offspring. This is governed by the juristic maxim: “When harms conflict and one of them is unavoidable, the lesser harm is to be committed.” Accordingly, the accidental killing of some children or women who cannot separate from the combatants is deemed permissible if it serves to weaken the enemy, break his power, exact retribution, and fend off his aggression and savagery against the Muslims—especially after they have been declared disbelievers.

3 – Al-Iqnāʿ and its commentary state: “It is permissible to attack the unbelievers by night and kill them while they are unaware; and if, during that night attack, someone whose killing is ordinarily forbidden—such as a woman, a child, an insane person, or a decrepit old man—is killed unintentionally, that is allowed.”

4 – The Prophet ﷺ, explaining the justification for the incidental killing of women and children in such circumstances, said: “They are part of them,” meaning that their killing is allowed as an unintended consequence when they cannot be separated from those who deserve to be fought.

5 – The majority of scholars—including the three imams Abū Ḥanīfah, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad—hold that it is permissible to kill non-Muslim women, children, and similar non-combatants when the enemy uses them as human shields, basing their view on this hadith. Imām Mālik and al-Awzāʿī, however, maintain that it is never permissible to kill women, children, and the like; even if the enemy shields himself behind them or barricades himself with them, it is not lawful to fight or burn them.