'safety, protection, safe conduct') is the Islamic law concept of guaranteeing the security of a person (who is then called mustaʾmin) or a group of people for a limited time.
[1] Foreign envoys enjoyed automatic amān status, but not merchants or shipwrecked people.
[1] As a result, the issuance of amān was a fundamental means of facilitating trade and diplomacy between Muslim and non-Muslim states during the early Middle Ages.
[3] From the late 12th century on, bilateral treaties between Muslim and Christian states that stipulated the rights and obligations of merchants and pilgrims began to replace the amān.
This was a widespread practice during the early Islamic period even though, as Joseph Schacht observes, "they are, strictly speaking, superfluous or even incompatible with religious law".