—the factor that, in his view, makes killing lawful is either the presence of harm coming from the person or the absence of any benefit in him. The first of these—harm—means open hostility, whether by hand or by speech; hence whoever does not engage in such hostility at all—women, children, monks, the blind, the chronically ill, and the like—is not to be killed, as this is the position of the majority.

He also states in al-Fatawa (8/534) and al-Fatawa al-Kubra (4/347): “The apostate is to be put to death even if he is incapable of fighting, unlike the original unbeliever who is not among the combatants; he is not to be killed according to most scholars, such as Abu Hanifah, Malik, and Ahmad.”

And he further says in al-Fatawa (28/659–660): “As for monks … the scholars have disagreed about killing them, just as they have disagreed about killing anyone who does not harm the Muslims, neither by hand nor by tongue—such as the blind, the infirm, and the very elderly, and likewise women and children. The majority maintain that no one is to be killed except those who, in one way or another, assist the enemy in fighting; otherwise they are treated like women and children. Others say that mere unbelief is what renders killing permissible, and that women were only exempted…"