Who is entitled to the spoils (salb) of a slain enemy combatant?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Jihad
Primary text
Entitlement to the spoils of a slain enemy combatant requires four conditions to be met. First, the slain individual must be one of those permissible to kill in combat; killing women, children, aged men, weak, or humiliated individuals who do not fight forfeits the right to their spoils. Second, the slain person must possess 'man'ah' (ability to resist) and not be mortally wounded (muthkhan bil-jirāḥ). If mortally wounded, the killer receives none of the spoils. This is evidenced by the case where Ibn Mas'ud finished off Abu Jahl after Mu'adh ibn 'Amr ibn al-Jamūḥ had wounded him; the Prophet (PBUH) awarded the spoils to Mu'adh alone. Third, the killer must either kill the enemy or inflict wounds severe enough to place the enemy in the ruling of being slain. Fourth, the killer must expose himself to danger (gharrara bi-nafsihi) in killing the opponent, meaning killing via a thrown arrow from the Muslim ranks or killing a routed enemy after the general rout does not grant spoils.
Supporting text
There is no known dispute that one forfeits the spoils if the slain person was one who should not have been killed (woman, child, etc.). The opinion of the one who kills a captive is that no spoils are due. If one cuts off the limbs of an enemy and another kills him, the one who maimed receives the spoils if he rendered the enemy unable to fight (like severing both hands and feet), otherwise, the spoils go to the treasury if the enemy was still capable of fighting with remaining limbs. If one engages an enemy in grappling, and another kills him, the killer receives the spoils, according to the general saying, 'Whoever kills a person, his spoils belong to him.' The spoils of an enemy taken captive are not due to the captor if the Imam executes him later, nor if the Imam spares him, as evidenced by the practice following the Battle of Badr where captors were not given spoils or ransom.