Thus, whoever does not hinder Muslims from establishing Allah’s religion harms no one but himself through his unbelief (1). For this reason, the jurists have stated that one who actively promotes innovations contrary to the Book and Sunnah is punished in a manner unlike one who remains silent.

It is related in a hadith: “When a sin is concealed (2), it harms only the one who commits it; but when it becomes public and is not denounced, it harms society at large” (3).

For this reason, the Sacred Law made it obligatory to fight the disbelievers, but it did not make it obligatory to kill those among them who fall into Muslim hands (4). Rather, if a man [from among them] (5) is captured, whether in battle or otherwise—such as when a ship casts him into our hands, he loses his way, or he is seized by stratagem—the ruler is to deal with him (6) in whatever manner best serves the common good: by executing or enslaving him, granting him release, or releasing him for a monetary ransom or in exchange for another person, according to most jurists, as indicated by the Book and Sunnah. Some jurists, however, hold that granting such release or accepting ransom has been abrogated.

As for the People of the Book and the Magians, they are to be fought until they embrace Islam or pay the jizya with their own hands while humbled. Jurists have differed over whether the jizya may be accepted from others, though most of them do not accept it from the Arabs.

Any organized group possessing the power to resist that professes adherence to Islam yet refuses to observe some of its laws