48:25 and the killing of women

Question

I need help with 48:25 below :

They are the ones who disbelieved and obstructed you from al-Masjid al-Haram while the offering was prevented from reaching its place of sacrifice. And if not for believing men and believing women whom you did not know - that you might trample them and there would befall you because of them dishonor without [your] knowledge - [you would have been permitted to enter Makkah]. [This was so] that Allah might admit to His mercy whom He willed. If they had been apart [from them], We would have punished those who disbelieved among them with painful punishment

Why would the killing of women be emphasized when it is confirmed in the Sunnah that women and children are spared during warfare except in night raids?

Why the need for such emphasis unless it is something permissible?

Is the killing of women acceptable? Isn't this a contradiction?

Answer 1

It is forbidden to kill non-combatant women intentionally or aiming for them specifically.

However people also get killed in the siege of a city without being explicitly targeted due to the weapons, strategies and circumstances of warfare where it is not possible to control who gets killed. For example women may get killed because of getting hit by stray arrows, or because of lack of food and water in a blockade, or because of fire that is set to buildings, or because of getting hit by stones from catapults, or during an ambush in the darkness where their gender is not clear, or because the enemy uses them as human shields, or even because of literally getting trampled by rushing armies etc. Such deaths are not included in the prohibition, as the hadith clarifies:

هم منهم

They are from among them

^{— Bukhari and Muslim}

Additionally the verse does not mention killing rather it may also includes other harms that occur in war such being detained, loss of property, death of male relatives etc. All of these would occur to women even if they do not die themselves.

It was to avoid such harm to the Muslim men and women of Makkah that the treaty was made and the war was deferred. The verse does not imply that it was permitted to kill women intentionally, and the sunnah does not imply that non-targeted death and harm to women is forbidden - so there is no contradiction.

Answer 2

This verse refers to the events that led up to the treaty of Hudaibiyyah.

In 628 AD, the Prophet (pbuh) had a divine premonition that he would enter Mecca to perform tawaf around the Ka'aba. He and a group of 1400 pilgrims approached Mecca dressed as pilgrims, that is in a state of ihram - which prohibited fighting - and bringing with them sacrificial animals. They carried few arms. They camped outside of Mecca and the Prophet met emissaries from Mecca who wished to prevent their entry. However, the two parties settled on a diplomatic solution after a long discussion rather than warfare and a treaty was drawn up.

At the time, there were quite a number of Muslims in Mecca who were practising Islam in secret due to the persecution they were experiencing. Had there been fighting when the pilgrims entered Mecca there would have been a danger of these men and women being hurt, 'trampled over', in ignorance.

It's this that the verse is referring to. It's not advocating - as you are putting it - the killing of women.

Sources: Wikipedia and Islamic UK Foundation.

Answer 3

The verse is saying to not fight with the none belivers because there are men and women whom may be belivers that you dont know about and that may lead to them dying for nothing