[3] In recent decades, extremist Salafi jihadist groups have used beheading as a method of killing captives and terror tactic.
(47:4)[7]Among classical commentators, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi interprets the last sentence of 8:12 to mean striking at the enemies in any way possible, from their head to the tips of their extremities.
[6] Furthermore, according to Rachel Saloom, surah 47:4 goes on to recommend generosity or ransom when waging war, and it refers to a period when Muslims were persecuted and had to fight for their survival.
[13] The majority of executions carried out by the government of Saudi Arabia are public beheadings,[14][15] which usually cause mass gatherings but are not allowed to be photographed or filmed.
[11][24] Their actions have been condemned by militant and other terrorist groups, as well as by mainstream Islamic scholars and organizations, who have contrasted Saudi government executions, which conform to standards that minimize pain, with the non-state actors who have "chosen a slow, torturous sawing method to terrorize the Western audience".