for the female captives taken at Autās were not People of the Book, yet the Prophet ﷺ did not make their conversion to Islam a prerequisite for intimacy; the sole restriction he imposed was the clearance of the womb (istibrāʾ).

5 – The essential ruling, therefore, is that intercourse is unlawful with a pregnant captive until she has delivered, and with one who is not pregnant until she has completed a single menstrual cycle to establish that her womb is clear. This is founded on the report recorded by Aḥmad and Abū Dāwūd from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, in which the Prophet ﷺ, speaking of the Autās captives, said: “No pregnant woman may be approached until she gives birth, and no woman who is not pregnant until she has menstruated once.”