(Glorified and Exalted is He): “Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress. Indeed, Allah does not like transgressors” [al-Baqarah: 190].

It is related in the Sunan collections (1) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) once passed by a woman who had been killed during one of his military expeditions, around whom people had gathered. He said, “This woman was not one who would have fought.” He then told one of them, “Catch up with Khālid and tell him: ‘Do not kill children or hired laborers’”—meaning wage laborers (2).

The same collections also relate that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say, “Do not kill a decrepit old man, a young child (3), or a woman” (4).

Allah Most High has permitted only such taking of life as is necessary for the welfare of creation. As He—Glorified and Exalted is He—said, “Persecution is worse than killing” [al-Baqarah: 217]. That is, although killing entails evil and corruption, the disbelievers’ persecution entails still greater evil and corruption.