127 - Chapter on Killing a Captive with Arrows

2687 - Sa'id ibn Mansur narrated to us, 'Abdullah ibn Wahb narrated to us, 'Amr ibn al-Harith informed me, from Bukayr ibn 'Abdullah ibn al-Ashajj, from Ibn Ti'la:

He said: We went on a raid with 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Khalid ibn al-Walid, and four enemy prisoners were brought to him. He ordered that they be killed in captivity (sabran).(1)

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Also narrated by Ibn Abi 'Asim in "al-Ahad wa al-Mathani" (565), al-Tahawi in "Sharh Mushkil al-Athar" (4514), al-Shashi in his "Musnad" (409), al-Tabarani in "al-Awsat" (2949), al-Hakim 2/124, and al-Bayhaqi 9/65 via the route of 'Ubaydullah ibn 'Amr al-Raqqi, with this chain of transmission. Al-Hakim declared it authentic and al-Dhahabi agreed with him.

His saying: "Who will [care] for the children?" — al-Qari said in "Mirqat al-Mafatih" 4/250-251: With kasra on the sad and sukun on the ba, it is the plural of sabi (child), like futya is the plural of fata. The analogical form would be sabwa. The meaning is: Who will take responsibility for my children and undertake their upbringing and maintenance while you kill their caretaker?

And his saying: "The Fire" — al-Tibi said in "Sharh al-Mishkat" as quoted by al-Qari: It admits of two interpretations:

One: That "the Fire" is an expression for ruin and loss, meaning: If the Fire is fit to be a caretaker, then let it be so.

The second: That the answer is of the wise style (uslub hakim), meaning: You shall have the Fire. The sense being: Concern yourself with your own affair and what has been prepared for you of the Fire, and leave alone the matter of the children, for their caretaker is God, upon Whom is the provision of every creature on earth. And this is the preferred interpretation.

Al-Qari commented: The more apparent is that the first is the preferred interpretation, for if this latter meaning were intended, he would have said "God" instead of "the Fire."

(1) The marfu' portion of it is authentic due to corroborating evidence, but this chain of transmission is weak, for it contains — according to the correct view — between Bukayr ibn 'Abdullah and Ibn Ti'la — whose name is 'Ubayd — the father of Bukayr, namely 'Abdullah ibn al-Ashajj, who is unknown (majhul); no one narrated from him except his son, and none declared him trustworthy except Ibn Hibban. Al-Mizzi said in his biography of 'Ubayd ibn Ti'la in "Tahdhib al-Kamal": The correct view is that of those who said: "from his father." And al-Dhahabi said similarly in "al-Kashif" in his biography of 'Ubayd.