Qāʿidah fī Qitāl al-Kuffār - Ibn Taimiya - (131)

[The Sixth Proof for the Prohibition of Fighting Unbelievers Who Do Not Fight]

Next he referred to the Conquest of Mecca, noting that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ granted its people clemency and did not force them to accept Islam. Rather, after gaining mastery over them he released them, which is why they were called “the Freed Ones,” the Muslims who entered the faith at the Conquest (1). The word ṭalīq is the opposite of “prisoner.”

It is therefore clear that they had been captives in his power, yet he set them free just as one frees a prisoner, without compelling them to embrace Islam. Safwan ibn Umayyah and others even remained with him as polytheists, accompanying him to the Battle of Hunayn, and still he did not coerce them—until they eventually accepted Islam of their own accord.

(1) Shaykh al-Islam states in Minhaj al-Sunnah, 4/381: “The tulaqa were those who embraced Islam at the Conquest of Mecca; the Prophet ﷺ set them free. They numbered roughly two thousand men, and among them were individuals who later ranked among the finest Muslims.”

[الدَّلِيلُ السَّادِسُ عَلَى تَحْرِيمِ قِتَالِ مَنْ لَمْ يُقَاتِلْ مِنَ الكُفَّارِ] ثَمَّ ذَكَرَ فَتْحَ مَكَّةَ: وَأَنَّهُ ﷺ منَّ عَلَيهِمْ، وَلَمْ يُكْرِهْهُمْ عَلَى الإِسْلَام، بَلْ أَطْلَقَهُمْ بَعْدَ القُدْرَةِ عَلَيهِمْ؛ وَلِهَذَا سُمُّوا (الطُّلَقَاءُ)، وَهُمْ مَسْلَمَةُ الفَتْحِ (١)، وَالطَّلِيقُ: خِلَافُ الأَسِيرِ. فَعُلِمَ أَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا مَأْسُورِينَ مَعَهُ، وَأَنَّهُ أَطْلَقَهُمْ كَمَا يُطْلَقُ الأَسِيرُ، وَلَمْ يُكْرِهَهُمْ عَلَى الإِسْلَام، بَلْ بَقِيَ مَعَهُ صَفْوَانُ بن أَمَيَّةَ وَغَيرُهُ مُشْرِكِينَ، حَتَّى شَهِدُوا مَعَهُ حُنَينًا، وَلَمْ يُكْرِهَهُمْ حَتَّى أَسْلَمُوا مِنْ تِلْقَاءِ أَنْفُسِهِمْ.

(١) قال شيخ الإسلام في منهاج السنة (٤/ ٣٨١): (الطلقاء هم مسلمة الفتح الذين أسلموا عام فتح مكة، وأطلقهم النبي ﷺ وكانوا نحوًا من ألفي رجل، وفيهم من صار من خيار المسلمين).