POWs at all include 'Ali b. Abi Tãlib, Al-Hasan b. al-Hasan al-Basrl (d. 110/728), Hammãd b. Abi Sulaymän (d. 120/737), Muhammad b. Sirin (d. 110/728), Mujãhid b. Jabr (d. 103/721), 'Abd al-Mãlik b. 'Abd al-'Azïz b. Jurayj (d. 150/767), 'Atâ' b. Abi Rabãh (d. 114/732) and Abû 'Ubayd ibn Sallãm, while later scholars favouring the same opinion include Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Qurtubl (d. 671/1272), who cites in proposing the impossibility of execution if the letter of the Qur'an is followed. Ibn Rushd (d. 594/1198) is also quoted: "[A] number of jurists did not permit executing the prisoners of war. Al-Hasan b. Muhammad al-Tamïmï (d. 656/1258) stated consensus (ijma) of the Companions on this view." He further shows that the rare executions were more due to the crimes they committed before the captivity than their status of POW itself. A well known case which is relevant in this regard is that of 'Abd Allah b. Khatal, who was one of the few people who were not granted immunity at the conquest of Mecca. A group of people "could have been punished by a tribunal should there have been one at the time”. But he was the only one executed for what we would today call high treason (as he collected tax money from Muslims before defecting and fighting them). More generically, he also shows that "in the first one hundred years of Islamic military history, that is, from the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) till the time of Caliph 'Umar b. 'Abdul 'Aziz, there were only six or seven such cases, even if we were to accept the spurious reports of such executions." See also Arab–Byzantine prisoner exchanges Islamic views on slavery Islam and war Islamic military jurisprudence References Notes External links Islamic jurisprudence Islam and politics Law of war Islam-related controversies