What is the financial liability for wrongfully killing a prisoner of war?

General Chapter

Al-Mughni

Book of Jihad

Book 54 · Issue 3 · Bab 1

Open in Qurani

Primary text

If a captor kills a prisoner, whether his own or another's, before bringing him before the Imam, he incurs no financial guarantee (daman). The evidence for this is the incident at Badr where Bilal killed Umayyah ibn Khalaf and his son after Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf captured them; no compensation was levied on the Muslims. This ruling stands because what was destroyed was not considered property (mal) before being legally processed by the Imam. Furthermore, before the Imam's judgment, the captive had no established value, similar to killing a dog, thus incurring no financial guarantee.

Supporting text

If the person killed was a woman or a boy, financial guarantee is incumbent, because they attain the status of chattel slavery (riqq) immediately upon being taken captive, unlike those whose fate is pending the Imam's decision regarding execution or ransom.