capturing_women_in_Islam

The reply to capturing women in Islam

This doubt is in fact one of the manifestations of Allah’s Mercy towards women.

The details:
Captivity is a ruling that is applicable only in the battlefield, accordingly, the male militant disbeliever is to be killed therein.
But the female militant disbeliever is to be captured instead of being killed. This is because Islam forbids killing women, elderly, children, and craftsmen who join the battlefield to observe their work. 
Although they are disbelievers and are situated in the battlefield, yet, they are not to be killed.

Therefore, Islam has mercy towards woman by prohibiting her killing since she is weak, and mostly does not engage in the fight. 

So, it is prescribed to take her in capture and exchange her with other Muslim she- captives, or forgive her and return her back to the enemy. 
"And either [confer] favor afterwards or ransom [them] until the war lays down its burdens” (Muhammad, verse 4).

Also you should notice Allah’s Saying:” until the ear lays down its burdens”.

 That means in the battlefield and:” Either [confer] favor afterwards, i.e. favor her by freeing her without ransom, or with ransom which means to exchange her with other Muslim she-captives taken by the enemy.

There is no captivity in Islam but in the battlefield, and the woman is to be captured and not killed in spite of being a militant.
 For even if she does that, , she probably does not do it by herself, therefore, her punishment is lighter than that of a militant disbeliever who engages to kill Muslims by himself. The evidence on that is the Prophet’s saying “This (i.e. woman) would not to engage in fight”.

Muslims nearly conquered the whole world and reigned it, and they did not transmit the inhabitants of any country to the Arabian Peninsula as captives, for no one having a bit of logic would say that. 
They didn’t even transmit the battlefield to the houses of peaceful civilians. On the contrary, those civilians did not find their secure or esteem except during the reign of Islam.

A bouncing up question; 
Is it permissible to capture militant women nowadays?

If a law is enacted nowadays prohibiting the captivity of women, and is being applied on both Muslims and disbelievers as happening at present, in this case, it is not permissible to breach the covenants and laws, unless the enemy started breaching!
Therefore, all covenants and treaties enacted in this regard are to be respected.
We also have an important fundamental in our legislation, that if our enemies observe some impermissible practices in our legislation; we are not allowed to return back the same actions, such as mutilation for instance.
During the period of the Bosnian war, the criminal Serbian soldiers used to rape Muslim Bosnian women, rather, Muslim scholars as then did not permit for those striving in the cause of Allah to captive the women of the enemies in return.

Will you ever find a greater form of mercy that ordains one to engage in fight with their own enemy using the same weapon? To the extent that you are forbidden to use a destructive weapon that destroys houses or people, rather, fight with them with their own weapon? Allah say: “(So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he has assaulted you. And fear Allah and know that Allah is with those who fear Him” (. [Al-Baqarah, verse 194].

A valuable addition:

Captivity has been known by all nations across ages, but Islam has blocked all the ways to it, and made it only applicable to the she fighters or the warmongers against Islam instead of killing them, and they enjoy all the captives rights, like if she is being captured with her husband, she remains with him and is being unlawful to any other man.

Capturing women is also a means to let her revert to Islam and attain salvation from Hellfire, since Islam is a religion that is concerned of the worldly life as well as the Hereafter. But it shall be contradictory to the essence of the call to capture a she disbeliever and let her remaining in infidelity or having the capability to fight Islam. It was