but instead accept their surrender (1) subject to your judgment and that of your companions.” (2)
These two [authentic] hadiths demonstrate that Allah has a specific judgment even in matters where the ruler is granted discretion according to what best serves the common good, although, were he to rule otherwise, his ruling would still take effect [outwardly] (3). Matters involving fighting are (4) all the more likely to have one of the two alternatives—either taking action or refraining from it—more beloved to Allah and His Messenger. This becomes clear (5) by weighing the benefit [and harm] (6). If undertaking something is better than not undertaking it because of the overriding religious benefit it achieves, then it is something Allah commands, either as obligatory or recommended. If refraining from it is better than undertaking it, then it is neither obligatory nor recommended, even though the person who undertakes it may have exercised independent judgment and be rewarded for that effort.
Fighting is undertaken only against a group capable of offering resistance. Thus, if such a group rebelled and then agreed to a settlement
(1) S, B: “accede to their request.”
(2) This is part of a lengthy hadith narrated by Sulaymān ibn Burayda from his father—may Allah be pleased with him. Its opening appears in Muslim, 3/1356–1358 (*Kitāb al-Jihād wa-al-Siyar*, “Book of Jihad and Military Expeditions,” *Bāb Ta’mīr al-Imām wa-al-Umarā’*, “Chapter on the Imam’s Appointment of Commanders…”): “Whenever the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—appointed a commander over an army or expeditionary detachment, he would counsel him… He then said: ‘Fight in the name of Allah and in Allah’s cause… If you besiege a fortress and they ask you to accept their surrender subject to Allah’s judgment… instead, accept their surrender subject to your own judgment, for you do not know whether or not your judgment concerning them will accord with Allah’s judgment.’” The hadith, with some differences in wording, also appears in *Sunan Abī Dāwūd*, 3/51–52 (*Kitāb al-Jihād*, “Book of Jihad,” *Bāb fī Wasiyyat al-Nabī fī al-Qitāl*, “Chapter on the Prophet’s Instructions Regarding Fighting”); *Sunan Ibn Mājah*, 2/953–954 (*Kitāb al-Jihād*, “Book of Jihad,” *Bāb Wasiyyat al-Imām*, “Chapter on the Imam’s Instructions”); and *al-Musnad* (al-Halabī ed.), 5/358.
(3) The words “outwardly” are omitted in N and M.
(4) A, B, R, S, H, W: “it is.”
(5) R, S, H: “and it is made clear.”
(6) The words “and harm” are omitted in N, M, and W.