Topic
The Quran’s battlefield command “strike the necks” (47:4) is about combat; the Prophet forbade mutilation, and Muslim scholars have condemned beheadings by extremists.
What it means
“When you meet those who disbelieve in battle, strike their necks, until you have subdued them” (47:4; also 8:12). Commentators read this as language about fighting an enemy in war. Reports in Sahih al-Bukhari say the Prophet forbade mutilating the dead and killing women and children.
What the sources say
In 2014 more than a hundred Muslim scholars from around the world wrote an open letter to the leader of ISIS refuting its use of beheading and other practices as contrary to Islamic law. The treatment of the men of Banu Qurayza, by contrast, is reported in the biographies and discussed in its own entry.