on this matter, in which “the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gave a boy a choice between his parents.” This was a particular case; no general statement has been transmitted from him giving children a choice without qualification. The hadith concerning giving a girl a choice is weak and contradicts their consensus.

The distinction between giving a boy and a girl a choice is that such choice involves personal inclination as well as judgment and considerations of welfare, like the choice exercised by someone acting on behalf of others, such as a ruler or guardian. When the ruler is given a choice concerning captives between execution, enslavement, release without compensation, and ransom, he must choose what best serves the Muslims’ interests. He thereby reaches the correct conclusion through his independent judgment, rules in accordance with Allah’s judgment, and receives two rewards. He may, however, fail to identify the best course; he is then rewarded for exerting his utmost and incurs no sin for being unable to discern what best serves their interests.

This is like someone who accepts the surrender of the people of a fortress on the understanding that they submit to his judgment:

“Banū Qurayza surrendered to the judgment of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. When Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal appealed to him on their behalf, he said, ‘Would you not be content for me to entrust the matter to your chief, Saʿd ibn Muʿādh?’ They agreed. Those who wished them to be spared hoped that Saʿd would show them favour because of the alliance between him and them in the pre-Islamic period. When Saʿd arrived, he ruled that their fighting men should be killed, their dependants taken captive, and their property divided. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘You have indeed judged concerning them according to Allah’s judgment from above seven heavens.’”

This implies that, had he ruled otherwise, his ruling would not, in reality, have been Allah’s judgment, even though it would still have had to be implemented.

A similar example is found in the well-known hadith of Burayda, recorded in Sahīh Muslim and elsewhere, in which he said:

“If you besiege the people of a fortress and they ask you to let them surrender on the basis of Allah’s judgment, do not let them surrender on the basis of