Kidnapping infidels and releasing them for ransom or enslaving them, as well as killing them if that option is deemed most advantageous for the Muslims, is fully sanctioned in Islamic law: “As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says, ‘When you encounter those [infidels] who deny [the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks’ (Qur’an sura 47, verse 4)” — Abu’l-Hasan al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah (The Laws of Islamic Governance), trans. by Dr. Asadullah Yate, (London), Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., 1996, p. 192.
Abu Sayyaf is another jihad group that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
“Gunmen abduct four people from Philippine island resort,” ANSA, September 22, 2015 (thanks to Insubria):
(ANSA) – Manila, September 22 – Three foreigners and a Filipino woman were abducted by gunmen from a holiday resort on Samal island in the southern Philippines on Monday night, local police and military sources have said.
The Norwegian manager of the tourist port at Holiday Oceanview Samal Resort, Kjartan Sekkingstad, Canadian nationals John Ridsel and Robert Hall and the Filipino wife of one of the Canadians were kidnapped.
The commando also reportedly tried to abduct a foreign couple on board a yacht moored in the tourist port before escaping by motorboat.
The authorities have not said who they think might be behind the abduction.
However, they have set up a naval blockade around Samal to prevent the kidnappers from reaching Basilan island to the southwest, where the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf has a number of bases.
In 2001 militants of Abu Sayyaf tried to abduct holidaymakers at the Pearl Farm Beach Resort south of Oceanview.