Najdah al-Haruri wrote to Ibn Abbas asking him about killing children, about whom the fifth share belongs to, about when orphanhood ends for a boy, about women and whether the Prophet used to take them out to battle or have them present at fighting, and about whether a slave receives a share of the spoils.Ibn Abbas wrote back to him, "As for children, if you can distinguish the disbeliever from the believer the way Khidr did, then kill them. As for the fifth share, we used to say it belonged to us, but our people claimed it was not ours. As for women, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to take women out with him so they could tend to the sick and care for the wounded, but they did not take part in the fighting. As for the boy, orphanhood ends for him when he reaches puberty. As for the slave, he has no fixed share of the spoils, but he used to be given a small portion."
حدثنا أبو معاوية حدثنا الحجاج عن عطاء
كتب نجدة الحروري إلى ابن عباس يسأله عن قتل الصبيان وعن الخمس لمن هو وعن الصبي متى ينقطع عنه اليتم وعن النساء هل كان يخرج بهن أو يحضرن القتال وعن العبد هل له في المغنم نصيب قال فكتب إليه ابن عباس أما الصبيان فإن كنت الخضر تعرف الكافر من المؤمن فاقتلهم وأما الخمس فكنا نقول إنه لنا فزعم قومنا أنه ليس لنا وأما النساء فقد كان رسول الله ﷺ يخرج معه بالنساء فيداوين المرضى ويقمن على الجرحى ولا يحضرن القتال وأما الصبي فينقطع عنه اليتم إذا احتلم وأما العبد فليس له من المغنم نصيب ولكنه قد كان يرضخ لهم
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Its isnad is sahih. Muslim narrated it (2:77-78) with multiple chains through Yazid bin Hurmuz from Ibn Abbas, and part of it was narrated by Nasai (2:177-178) and Bayhaqi (6:332, 344-345) also through the route of Yazid.Najdah the Haruri, this is Najdah bin Amir, one of the extremists among the Haruri Khawarij, and one of their leaders and eloquent speakers. In H it appears as "Najwah" with a waw, which is a clear error.Al-Khidr, this is the companion of Musa mentioned in Surah Kahf. In one of the narrations of Muslim it reads, "Do not kill the children, unless you know what al-Khidr knew about the boy he killed," but in H it reads "unless they know," and we have retained what appears in K.Yarkhakh lahum, from al-rakhkh, meaning a small gift.