Eighth Reflection

Killing a disbeliever is forbidden in two cases:

1. When he is a muʿāhad (bound to the Muslims by treaty) or a mustaʾman (granted safe-conduct); the prophetic reports on this are numerous and well attested.

2. When he is not engaged in combat. To kill someone who is not fighting is pure aggression and excess. Allah the Exalted says, “Fight in the path of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress; indeed, Allah does not love the transgressors” (Q 2:190).

After quoting this verse, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said (1): “Anyone who is not a combatant has not been given permission to be fought.”

He also stated (2): “It is therefore understood that the condition for lawful fighting is that the person fought must himself be a combatant.”