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Controversial miscellaneous issues related to Islam
Non-Muslim prisoners of war
In the event of war, if non-Muslims are taken prisoners from an enemy country by Muslims, they should be treated fairly and should not be tortured. The famous Khalif Umar Ibn AbdelAziz had ordered that non-Muslim subjects, if taken prisoners by an enemy, should be as much ransomed and liberated on state expense as any Muslim subject.
(Ibn saad Muhammad Ibn saad, Altabakat Alkubra, vol. 5, PP.26, 272)
The following words of our Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, sum up the instructions given to the troops dispatched against the Byzantine forces who had threatened to invade the Muslims:
"In avenging the injuries inflicted upon us, molest not the harmless inmates of domestic seclusion; spare the weakness of the female sex; injure not the infants at the breast or those who are ill in bed. Refrain from demolishing the houses of the unresisting inhabitants; destroy not the means of their subsistence, nor their fruit-trees and touch not the palm."
He also said: "Fight and do not exceed the limits and be not unfaithful and do not mutilate bodies and do not kill children."
He also said: "They are your brothers. Allah has put them in your hands; so whosoever has his brother in his hands, let him give food to eat out of what he himself eats and let him give him clothes to wear out of what he himself wears, and do not impose on them a work they are not able to do themselves. If at all you give them such work, help them carry it out" (Sahih AL-Bukhari, 2:22; Hanbal, Imam Ahmed Musnad)
The first righteous Caliph AbuBakr, may Allah be pleased with him, gave the following instructions when he sent forth the Muslims to Syria:
"When you meet your enemies in the fight, behave yourself as befits good Muslims, and remember to prove yourselves the true descendants of Ismail. If Allah gives you victory, do not abuse your advantages and beware not to stain your swords with the blood one who yields, neither you touch the children, the women nor the infirm also men whom you may find among your enemies. In your march through the enemy territory, do not cut down the palm or other fruit trees, destroy not the products of earth, ravage no field, burn no houses…Let no destruction be made without necessity…Treat the prisoners and he who renders himself to your mercy with pity, as Allah shall do to you in your need;; but trample down the proud and those who rebel, nor fail to crush all who broken the conditions of treaty solemnly entered into. Let there be no perfidy in all things proving yourself ever upright and noble and maintain your word and promise truly. Do not disturb the quiet of the monks and the hermits, and destroy not their abodes…"
(see Tabari's Tarikh and Ibn Hisham, sirat. Also see Quadri, Anwar Ahmad, Islamic Jurisprudence in the Modern World, Lahore, 1973 pp. 278-279)
Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the fourth righteous Caliph, may Allah be pleased with him, strongly forbade the Muslims in their civil strife to slay a fugitive after he had escaped from the battle field or to pursue him beyond a single mile or to continue a siege beyond a set period.
In the famous battle of Badr, seventy prisoners were taken and they were granted freedom by exacting a strange ransom. The ransoms that they had to pay were that they should teach some illiterate Muslims how to read and write.
In the battle on Hunayn, six thousand prisoners of war were taken from the Hawazin tribe and they were all set free as is recorded in Sahih Al-Bukhari. The famous historian AlTabari reports that one hundred families belonging to the tribe of Bani Mustaliq were taken prisoners but were set free even without ransom. (sahih al-Bukhari, ch. 40:7)
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