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July 9, 2010 - PRLog -- What Islam says about war, colonial conquests and torture

1) Only fight (ie wars, personal one-to-one physical battles etc) against those who fight you (ie fight in self-defence) and your deen literally and directly!

2) Apart from the 2 underlined reasons above, do not fight against anyone else for any other reason.

3) Even when fighting, do not cross the limits of human dignity, decency and morality, irrespective of the behaviour of the enemy.

The following verse of the Quran is the proof for the guidelines of war highlighted above.

“Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loves not aggressors.” (Al-Baqarah 2:190)

4) While entering the opposition’s territory, the Muslim army is not to even “touch” anyone who does not want to fight the Muslims, especially children, women, men, even those men from the opposition’s army who decide to lay down their arms and ask for peace.

5) The Muslim army is not to loot and destroy any of the opposition’s assets, ie houses, farms, buildings, places of worship, natural resources etc. It does not have the right to use the things belonging to the people without their consent. Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) used to tell Muslim armies being dispatched to the battle that they should not even use the milk of the cattle without the permission of the owners. However, booty of war from the battleground is altogether different. It consists of the wealth, provisions and equipment captured from the camps and military headquarters of the combatant armies and may legitimately be appropriated.

6) The Muslim army is not to harm even the trees, land, nature in general, present in the opposition’s territory.

7) The Muslims must never compel the opposition to leave their religion, their temples and places of worship, and become Muslims instead. Islam must never be forced upon the people.

The Prophet (SAW) himself used to instruct his armies about the guidelines given above. The following speech of the first Caliph of Islam, Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA), to the armies that he sent to Syria highlights all these points:

"Stop, O people, that I may give you ten rules for your guidance in the battlefield. Do not commit treachery or deviate from the right path. You must not mutilate dead bodies. Neither kill a child, nor a woman, nor an aged man. Bring no harm to the trees, nor burn them with fire, especially those which are fruitful. Slay not any of the enemy's flock, save for your food. You are likely to pass by people who have devoted their lives to monastic services; leave them alone."

The following hadises (sayings) of the Prophet (SAWW) are relevant here:

"You are neither hard-hearted nor of fierce character, nor one who shouts in the markets. You do not return evil for evil, but excuse and forgive." - Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Number 362

"Do not kill any old person, any child or any woman" (Abu Dawud).

"Do not kill the monks in monasteries" or "Do not kill the people who are sitting in places of worship" (Musnad of Ibn Hanbal).

During a war, the Prophet (SAWW) saw the corpse of a woman lying on the ground and said: "She was not fighting. How then came she to be killed?"

8) The opponent must never be burnt during combat as this brings about intense pain, and the aim of Islam is not to inflict intense pain and torture upon people but to defend the Muslims against visible aggression. So for this purpose, such measures that bring about death after subjecting the opponent to prolonged periods of intense pain are prohibited. The Prophet (SAWW) once said: "Punishment by fire does not behove anyone except the Master of the Fire" (Abu Dawud).

9) Wounded soldiers who are not fit to fight, nor actually fighting, must not be attacked. The Prophet (SAWW) said: "Do not attack a wounded person".

10) No prisoner should be killed. The Prophet (SAWW) said: "No prisoner should be put to the sword".

11) No opponent should be tied to be killed in the near future.

12) The corpses of the opposition must be returned to the opposition upon request. In the battle of Ahzab, a renowned enemy warrior was killed and his body fell into the trench which the Muslims had dug for the defence of Madina. The unbelievers presented ten thousand Dinars to the Prophet and requested that the dead body of their fallen warrior be handed over to them. The Prophet replied: "I do not sell dead bodies. You can take away the corpse of your fallen comrade."

13) Medical assistance MUST be provided to the injured among the opposition by the Muslims if they can. A well-known example is that of Salahuddin Ayyubi (Saladin), who gave medical help to his opponent Richard the Lion-Hearted of England, who was seriously ill during the Crusades. He sent his own doctor and personally supervised Richard's treatment until he became well. This is in sharp contrast to the behavior of the crusaders themselves. When they entered Jerusalem on July 15, 1099, they slaughtered seventy thousand Muslims, including women, children, and the elderly, as Edward Gibbon, a famous historian, writes: "They broke children's skulls by knocking them against the wall, threw babies from roof tops, roasted men over fires and cut open women's bellies to see if they had swallowed any gold." Also compare Salahuddin Ayyubi’s attitude to that shown by the Hindus in Gujarat and the US in their detention facilities as mentioned above.

14) Muslims must be merciful and caring towards the captured enemy.

15) Muslims must feed the prisoners and never deprive them of food in order to torture them and hence force out the secrets of the enemy from them in any way. Ibn Umayr, one of the captives of Muslims in the Battle of Badr recalled: "Whenever I sat with my captors for lunch or dinner, they would offer me bread and themselves [eat] the dates, in view of the Prophet's recommendation in our favor." Please note that in that desert situation, bread was a more luxurious item of food than dates.

16) The prisoners must not be deprived of food, shelter, clothing, respect, and the basic needs of human beings.

17) The captive belongs to the state and not to his captor, ie a single Muslim or a group of Muslims. The ruler of the Muslim empire/state has the ultimate option, as he sees fit, to grant him freedom immediately or at a later time.

18) The captives can be released in two main ways as practised by the Prophet (SAWW) himself. One, out of mercy, for the sake of Allah. But in this case the word of the captives must be taken that they will never fight against the Muslims again, and it should be made clear to them that if they do, they will be severly dealt with next time they are captured. Second way is by taking ransom. Ransom could be money, or some beneficial reasonable service to the Muslim community such as teaching a few Muslim children how to read and write for example. However in case of taking money for ransom, the Prophet (SAWW) used to ensure that the families of the captives would be able to pay the ransom first before asking them to.

19) The captives can be killed if the “Ruler/Imam” of the Muslims deems it fit, not an individual Muslim. The criteria for killing captives is that the captive committed numerous atrocities against the Muslims, so many and so brutal that his release would be a threat to the Muslims.

20) The Muslims must always be truthful and trustworthy in their dealings with the opposition. This is actually taught in their religion Islam, as opposed to other religions whose books might contain such teachings but whose leaders and governments do not enforce them and hold them important in their hearts.

...Read the rest of the article on the blog: http://quranicperspective.blogspot.com

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Name: Quranic Perspective.
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