Jihad (5)

Jihad (5)

Directions Relating to War

The following instructions were given by the Prophet to the troops dispatched against the Byzantine force who threatened to invade the Muslims: “In avenging the injuries inflicted upon us molest not the harmless inmates of domestic seclusion; spare the weakness of female sex; injure not the infant at the breast, or those who are ill in bed. Abstain from demolishing the dwellings of the unresisting inhabitants; destroy not the means of their subsistence, nor their fruit trees and touch not palm” [1].

The Khalifa Abu-Bakr also gave the following instructions to the commander of an army in the Syrian battle: “When you meet your enemies quit yourselves like men, and do not turn your backs; and if you gain the victory, kill not the little children, nor old people, nor women. Destroy no palm-trees, nor burn any fields of corn or wheat, cut down no fruit trees, nor do any mischief of cattle, only such as you kill for the necessity of subsistence. When you make any covenant or treaty, stand to it, and be as good as your word. As you go on, you will find some religious persons who live retired in monasteries and who propose to themselves to serve God that way. Let them alone, and neither kill them nor destroy their monasteries.” [2]. Similar instructions were given by the succeeding Khalifas to their respective commanders of the troops, all tending to the treatment of the hostile enemies with justice and mercy.

Treatment of the Prisoners of War

If the wars, during the time of the Prophet or early Khalifas had been prompted by a desire of propagating Islam by force, this object could easily have been attained by forcing Islam upon prisoners of war who fell helpless at the hands of the Muslims. Yet this the Glorious Qu’ran does not allow; but on the contrary it expressly lies down that those prisoners of war better be set free. To this effect we read in the Glorious Qu’ran the following instruction: “Now when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks until, when ye have routed them, then making fast of bonds; and afterward either grace or ransom till the war lay down its burdens. That (is the ordinance). And if Allâh willed He could have punished them (without you) but (thus it is ordained) that He may try some of you by means of others. And those who are slain in the way of Allâh, He rendereth not their actions vain.” [47:4].

Here we are told that prisoners of war can only be taken after meeting an enemy in regular battle, and even in that case they may either be set free, as a favour, or after taking ransom. The Prophet carried this injunction during his lifetime. In the battle of Hunain, six thousand prisoners of the Hawazin tribe were taken, and they all set free simply as an act of favour [3]. A hundred families of Bani Mustaliq were taken as prisoners in the battle of Mura'isi, and they were also set at liberty without any ransom being paid [4]. Seventy prisoners were taken in the battle of Bader, and it was only in this case that ransom was exacted; but the prisoners were granted their freedom while war with the Koraishites was yet in progress [5].

The form of ransom adopted in the case of these prisoners was that they should be entrusted with teaching some of the illiterate Arab Muslims how to read and write.[6] When war ceased and peace was established, all war prisoners would have to be set free, according to the verse quoted above.

Prisoners of War not Slaves

The treatment accorded to prisoners of war in Islam is unparalleled. No other nation or society can show a similar treatment. The prisoners were distributed among the various Muslim families as no arrangements for their maintenance by the state existed at the time, but they were treated mercifully. A prisoner of war states that he was kept in a family whose people gave him bread while they themselves had to live on dates [7]. Prisoners of war were, therefore, not only set free but so long at they were kept prisoners they were treated generously.

War As a Struggle to Be Carried out Honestly

It will be seen from the foregoing statements concerning the injunctions relating to war and peace, that war is recognized by Islam as a struggle between nations which is sometimes necessitated by the conditions of human life. But Islam does not allow its followers to provoke war, nor does it allow them to be aggressors, yet it commands them to put their whole force into the struggle when war is forced on them. If the enemy wants peace after the struggle has begun, the Muslims should not refuse, even though there is doubt about the enemy’s honesty of purpose. But the struggle, so long as it exists, must be carried on to the end. In this struggle, honest dealing is enjoyed even with the enemy throughout the Glorious Qu’ran verse 2, Chapter 5, runs thus: “And let not hatred of a people incite you to exceed the proper limits; and help ye one another in goodness and piety, and do not help one another in sin and aggression.”

Again verse 8 of the same Chapter reads thus: “Let not hatred of a people incite you not to act equitably; see that you act equitably, that is nearer to piety.” The tradition of the Prophet too enjoins honest dealing in war: “Fight and do not exceed the limits and be not unfaithful and do not mutilate bodies and do not kill children”[8] Such are some of the directions given which purify war of the elements of barbarity and dishonesty in which Western warring nations generally indulge. Neither inhuman nor immoral practices are allowed by Islam in war or peace.