Just as taking control of property without right constitutes wrongful appropriation—even when this includes breach of trust and theft—so taking control of people without right constitutes captivity, including when the oppressors are Muslims. The same applies to rescuing enslaved people from those who transgress against them and wrong them, for lawful slavery has limits, and exceeding them constitutes aggression. This also includes rescuing a wife from an oppressive husband, for marriage is bondage, as indicated by the Quran and Sunnah. Allah Most High says:

“And they both found her master at the door.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said concerning women:

“They are like captives in your keeping.”

And ʿUmar said: “Marriage is bondage, so let each of you consider into whose bondage he places the woman dear to him.”

The same applies to rescuing a boy or girl from an oppressor, such as someone who withholds what is due to them and subjects them to what is forbidden. It also includes recovering property from those who have seized it unjustly or on the basis of an interpretation, whether it has been wrongfully appropriated, stolen, or otherwise taken, by paying the oppressor something so that he returns it to its owner.

In both categories, it makes no difference whether payment is made to prevent an oppressor from subjugating people or seizing property—as when, out of necessity, a truce is concluded with a warring enemy in return for money paid to them—or to secure release or recovery from the oppressor after the subjugation or seizure has occurred.