and children as well, for they are regarded as property).

Second example: Shaykh al-Islām says in the abridged epistle:
“Just as it is obligatory to kill anyone who changes his religion—because he has changed it—even if he is not among those capable of fighting, such as monks, and there is no dispute over this.” He says the same in al-Fatāwā (20/100): “The apostate is to be executed by consensus even if he is incapable of fighting, whether he is blind, crippled, or a monk.”

Third example: Shaykh al-Islām states in the same abridged epistle:
“His words, ‘And fight…,’ link the ruling to their fighting us, which shows that this is the reason for the command to fight. He then says, ‘and do not transgress.’ Transgression means overstepping the limit, indicating that fighting those who do not fight us is transgression.”

He expresses the same idea in al-Ṣārim al-Maslūl (2/513): “Allah, exalted is He, says in His Book: ‘Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress. Indeed, Allah does not love the transgressors’ ⦗Quran 2:190⦘. He commanded fighting those who fight, so it is understood that the condition for fighting is that the opponent be a combatant,” and he also said in