Emancipation of enemy slaves upon fleeing to Muslim lines

A juristic rule in Islam's laws of war and manumission; the Prophet declared it at the siege of Ta'if when his herald proclaimed freedom for any of the enemy's slaves who took refuge with the Muslim camp ¹.

When the siege of Ta'if's fortress dragged on and Thaqif held out behind its walls, the Messenger of God's herald called: "Any slave who comes down to us and leaves the fortress is free" ¹. Some dozen men lowered themselves from the fortress — among them Abu Bakra Nufay' ibn al-Harith, Wardan and Nafi' — and the Prophet freed them, entrusting each to a Muslim who would provide for him and teach him the Qur'an ¹.

When Ta'if's people later became Muslim, they asked the Prophet to return the men; he refused, saying: "No — those are God's freedmen", and it became a standing sunna with the imams of fiqh ¹.