The Shari'ah Commandment of Jihad 0093

FIQH: AHLUS SUNNAH WAL JAMA'AH -
TRADITIONAL SHAFI'I SCHOOL OF JURISPRUDENCE

Jihad is Fardhu 'Ain (personally obligatory) for everyone who is able to perform it, let them be male or female, old or young - when the enemy has surrounded the Muslims on every side, having entered our territory, even if the land consists of ruins, wilderness, or mountains.

This is due to the fact that non-Muslim forces entering Muslim lands is a weighty matter that cannot be ignored, but must be met with effort and struggle to repel them by every possible means. All of which is if conditions permit gathering the above-mentioned people, provisioning them, and readying them for war.

If conditions do not permit this, as when the enemy has overrun the Muslims such that they are unable to provision or prepare themselves for war, then whoever is found by non-Muslim and knows he will be killed if captured is obliged to defend himself in whatever way possible. But if not certain that he will be killed, meaning that he might or might not be, as when he might merely be taken captive, and he knows he will be killed if he does not surrender, then he may either surrender or fight.

A woman too has a choice between fighting or surrendering if she is certain that she will not be subjected to an indecent act if captured. If uncertain that she will be safe from such an act, she is obliged to fight, and surrender is not permissible.