Silm: peace and treaty with the enemy

Silm in the lexicon means reconciliation and can also mean Islam; in the technical sense it stays close to the lexical one, as reconciliation opposed to war, or the giving up of holy war against unbelievers on conditions. ¹ The jurists divide it into an absolute silm that belongs to the community by origin and does not arise from a contract, and a silm of reconciliation, which is either a lasting contract (the dhimma) or a time-limited one in two forms: the truce (hudna) and safe-conduct (aman). ²

Truce, withdrawal and covenant are all forms of reconciliation to give up fighting; safe-conduct lifts the license to shed the blood or take the property of an enemy combatant; and in the technical sense dhimma is the commitment to let unbelievers settle in the land of Islam and be protected in return for the poll tax. ^{1 2}

Silm in the absolute sense is the outward submission and the adherence to what the Prophet ﷺ brought; it belongs only to a Muslim by birth or by entering Islam. ^{1 2}

The jurists agree that a truce is permitted when it serves the Muslims, and not otherwise. ³ Only the imam or his deputy may conclude it, and it may not be unlimited in time. ^{4 5} The Malikis and Shafi'is require that it have no invalid condition and serve a purpose; if the Muslims are strong it lasts four months or less, if they are weak it may run up to ten years, and it is renewed if the need persists after the term. ^{6 5}

The Hanbalis allow a truce bought with money paid by the Muslims in dire need, by analogy with ransoming a captive with money, citing a report from al-Zuhri about the day of the Confederates. ^{6 5}

Scholars differ on the verse about peace: some call it abrogating, some abrogated, and some hold it to stand; the book says the two verses were revealed at two different times. The printed text on this point is garbled and should be checked against the page image. ⁵

Safe-conduct is a contract that is not binding and may be annulled on conditions. The Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis allow it where it causes no harm; the Hanafis require a clear benefit to the Muslims. ³

A truce is valid only by the imam or his deputy. Safe-conduct may be given by the imam, by a group of Muslims, or by any single Muslim, and by the majority view even by a woman. Ibn al-Majishun of the Malikis held that a woman's, a slave's or a child's safe-conduct is not valid from the start, but if given it stands when the imam confirms it and may be rejected otherwise. ⁴

The details of safe-conduct are treated in the chapters on the law of war and holy war; for truce, reconciliation, covenant, safe-conduct and dhimma, see their own entries. ^{3 4}