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PART-II
ON WAR AND WARRING

When war was first decreed in Islam, it was sometime after Muslims had been fought against and persecuted, but without being permitted to hit back at their enemies. The wording of such permission reflects the defensive nature of war, for it came in the words of the Qoran saying:

"To those against whom war is made, permission is given (to fight), because they are wronged; and verily God is most powerful for their aid." (22:39)

The clear policy of war in Islam is described by the Qoran:

"Fight in the cause of God those who fight you,
But do no transgress limits
For God loveth not transgressors.
And slay them wherever you catch them...
And turn them out from where they have turned you out;
For tumult and oppression are worse than killing...
But fight them not at the Sacred Mosque unless they (first) fight you there. ..but if they fight you slay- them...
Such is the reward of those who supress faith.
But if they cease, God is oft forgiving. ..most merciful.
And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in God. But if they cease, let there be no hostility except to those who practise oppression (2:190-193)

The expression "in the cause of God" mentioned in the beginning of the aforementioned verse of the Qoran is worthy of special note. For in over thirty sites in the Qoran it was annexed to the word Jihad as prescribed by Islam. ("Jihad" has a wider meaning than mere "war" ...for it covers such aspects as fighting oneselrs own moods and erroneous desires, giving out cherished money for charity etc. ..). If not in the cause of God, Jihad will not be acceptable to Islam. War in Islam has therefore quite different aims and means than wars known between states on peoples.

"Those who believe fight in the cause of God, and those who reject faith fight in the cause of Evil." (4:76)

It is conceivable therefore that the Muslim army was an army with a concience. ..for it was indoctrinated by the saying of the Prophet: "God accepts no deed unless it was honest to God and only seeking Him."

THE ETHICS OF WAR

1. Personal Behaviour of the Troops:

In war, as it is in peice, the instructions of Islam are to be observed. Worship does not cease in war. Islamic jurisprudence maintains that whatever is prohibited during peace is also prohibited during war. War is no excuse to be linient with misbehaving troops. The Prophet says: "Beware of the prayer (to God) of the oppressed. ..for there is no barrier between it and God. Even if he (the oppressed) was a nonbeliever. "

2. Whom to Fight:

Fighting should be directed only against fighting troops, and not to non fighting personnel. ..and this is in compliance with the verse of the Qoran already mentioned:

"Fight in the cause of God those who fight you. ..and do not trangress….”

In one of the battles a woman was found killed, and this was denounced by the Prophet saying "She did not fight" This will be further detailed under the instructions given to the armies and their commanding chiefs by the Prophet and his Caliphs.

3. The Prophet's. instructions to Commandding Chiefs: , Fight in the cause of God. Fight those who deny God; Do not be embittered. Do not be treacherous. Do not mutilate. Do not kill children or those (people) in convents. "

4. Abu-Bakr's instructions to; Usama's Campaign on Syria (first caliph):

Do not betray or be treacherous or vindictive. Do not mutilate. Do not kill the children, the aged or the women. Do not cut or bum palm trees or fruitful trees. Dont slay a sheep, a cow or camel except for your food. And you will come across people who confined themselves to worship in hermitages. ..leave them alone to what they devoted themselves for. "

5 Abu-Bakr's Instructions to Yazid ibn-Abi Sufian:

"I give you ten commandments: dont kill a woman or a child or an old person, and dont cut trees or ruin dwellings or slay a sheep but for food. Dont burn palm trees or drown them. And dont be spiteful or unjust."

6. Maintaining Justice and Avoidance of Blind Retaliation:

None can be more illustrative in this respect than the words of the Qoran:

"0 ye who believe, stand out firmly for God, as witnesses to fair dealing. ..And let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just. ..that is closer to piety. And fear God ...for God is well acquainted with all that ye do." (5:9).

MEDICAL AND NURSING SERVICES

Current concepts refer the birth of respectable "Nursing" to Florence Nightingale during the Cremean War. As a matter of fact the earliest campaign in Islam knew organized nursing, carried out by groups of Muslim ladies who joined the army to administer comfort and treatment to the wounded.

From the early days of Islam the sanctity of the medical profession was recognized. Christian and Jewish doctors were employed by the Islamic state since the days of the Umayyads, and some of them were even court and personal physicians to caliphs. Under the tolerant attitude of Islam, some of them got the chance to unfold their full scientific potential and thus contributed to the progress of medical knowledge.

Medical help was a right to all men inspite of religion or creed. That this was also extended to those amongst enemy forces who needed it is well known. An example well known in the West is that of Saladin securing .medical help to his opponent, Richard Lion Heart of England who was seriously ill during the Crusades. Saladin sent him his own doctor and personally supervised Richard's treatment until he became well. In quoting this particular example, one dare say that such an attitude was quite different to the behaviour chatecterizing the invading crusaders. When the crusaders entered Jerusalem on July 15th 1099, they slaughtered seventy thousand Muslims including women, children and old men. They broke children's skulls by knocking against the wall, threw babies from ever roof tops, roasted men over fire and cut up women's tummies to see if they had swallowed gold. This description was given by Gibbon, a Christian writer, and commented on by Ludbig wbo wondered how come after those horrible atrocities they prayed at the burrial place of Christ for blessing and forgiveness (Draper/History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Vol. 2, p. 77).

We do not mention this in bitterness or prejudice. ..for every honest Muslim or Chrstian well knows that Christianity is something and many deeds of the crusaders are something elese.

PRISONERS OF WAR

The Treatment of War Prisoners.

For the first time in religious or sectarian history , Islam adopted an attitude of mercy and caring for the captured enemy. Unprecedented by previous legal systems, and long before the Geneva Convention, Islam set the rule that the captive is sheltered by his captivity and the wounded by his injury.

Previously, it was the custom for the captive to work for his food or get it through private means. The Qoran made it a charity to feed the prisoners saying:

" As to the righteous, they shall drink of a cup mixed with camphor. .a fountain where the devotees of God do drink, making it flow in unstinted abundance. They perform their vows and they fear a day whose evil flies far and wide. And they, though they hold it dear, give sustenance to the indigent, the orphan and the captive. ..(saying) we feed you for the sake of God alone: no reward do we desire from you, nor thanks." (67:5-9)

The Prophet instructed his companions to be good to the captives. ..one of his traditions says: " It is my recommenda- tion that you be good tothe captives. II Abu Aziz-ibn Umair , one of the captives of Badr battle, recalls: "Whenever I sat with my captors for lunch or dinner, they would offer me the bread and .themselves the dates, in view of the Prophet's recommendation in our favour (in .that desert situation bread ; . was the more luxurious item of food ,than dates) .As soon as any of them held a piece of bread, he would offer it tome. "Feeling shy, I would give it back to 1ne of them but he would immediately return it to me."

Another, Thumama ibn-Athal was t,lken prisoner and brought to the Prophet who said: " Be good to him in his captivity. " When the Prophet went home he instructed to collect whatever food there was and ordered it sent to the prisoner. When the Jewish Quraiza tribe were captured, loads of dates were regularly carried to them, with the Prophet's instructions to shelter them from the summer sun and to provide them with water to drink.

From the legal point of view, Muslim opinion is unanimous on the prohibition of subjecting the captives to illtreatment by withholding food, drink or clothing.

The Fate of War Prisoners

This was based upon the teaching of the Qoran:

"Therefore, when you meet the unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks. At length, when you have subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them) ...thereafter (is the time for) granting them their freedom out of generosity or take ransom from them. ..(47:4)

According to Islamic law the captive belongs to the state and not to his captor. The ruler has the ultimate option, as he sees fit, of granting freedom or doing that after taking a ransom.

Among those Whom the Prophet (pbuh) granted freedom was a poet called Abu-Azza who said: "I have five daughters who have no one to support them, so give me away to them as a charity and I promise never to fight you or help your enemies.

Abul-As ibn Al Rabiae was freed for a ransom, which the Prophet later returned back to him. This was a good gest and a while later the man declared his Islam.

Umarna ibn-Athal was set free upon his promise not to provide: the enemy with food. This gentle treatment touchec;; the man who was then converted to Islam saying to the Prophet: "There was a time when your face was the moS; hated face to me. .and there comes a day when it is the most loved."

Sometimes captives were exchanged for Muslim captives in enemy hands. An acceptable ransom that was quite often carried out was to teach ten Muslim children to read and write.

It is noteworthy that modern international law allows for setting free a prisoner of war on equivalent lines.

Personnel set free upon their word of honour not to fight again should keep their promise and they should not bec ordered by their governments to go to battle again. If they, break their promise they might be punishable by death if they are captured again.

NONBELLIGERENTS

Islam never fought nations but fought only despotic authorities. Islamic invasion was one of liberation and not of compulsion. The freedom of the liberated people to decide their religion has already been mentioned, and it was to ensure this freedom that Muslims fought.. It is interesting to mention that when Muslims fought the Romans in Egypt, the Egyptian copts sided with and helped le Muslims against the Romans who were Christians like them. This was because Christian Egypt was suffering religious oppression by the Christian Romans to compel them to adopt their religious beliefs. One of the earliest actions of the Muslims in Egypt was the assurance of religious freedom and the reinstatement of Bejamin as Bishop of Alexandria after years of hiding from the Romans in the western desert. But religious freedom was but one asepct that Islam gave. Whether Arab or Egyptian, Muslim or Christian, Islam built up that FELLOWSHIP that humanity aspires to, in equality and fraternity .The story is well known of the running contest held in Egypt and won by an Egyptian to the dismay of an Arab competitor who was the son of Amro, governor of Egypt. The Arab hit the boy saying 'how dare you outrun me and I am the son of the nobility." Upon which Umar, the caliph, ordered the three all the way to Medina, and ordered the Egyptian to avenge by hitting the offending Arab, saying: "Hit him back. .hit the son of nobility." Addressing Amro, he uttered his famous saying: "0 Amro, since when have you enslaved people while their mothers have born them free."

On the Syrian front, when Roman oppressors were defeated by the Muslims, Bishop Sophronios of Jerusalem requested to surrender the city but only to Caliph Umar in person. The Muslim army could have easily blasted into the city, but the caliph came an the way from Medina. As he visited the Holy Sepulchre prayer time came, and the Bishop invited him to say his prayer inside the church. This Umar refrained from, choosing to go outside the door and pray lest some future generation of Muslims would take the liberty to break into the church for prayer .

The treaty between Umar and Sophronios is no doubt great model of justice and mercy on part of the victor. It read:

"This is the assurance given by the slave of God, Umar,i prince of the faithful, to the people of Jerusalem. He assures their safety as well as that of their belongings, money. churches, crosses, their sick and their healthy and aff their populace. Their churches will not be dwelt in (by Muslims) or demolished or decreased or deprived of any of their revenues, crosses or money. They will not be religiously oppressed. None of them will be harmed and none of the Jews will dwell in Jerusalem with them. The people of Jerusalem will pay the 'jizia' ...they will send the Romans out, and whoever of the Christians wants to walk out with the Romans may do that and is allowed to take his money and belongings. "

INTERNATIONAL LAW

The process of active intervention to stop or remove agression is a development that modem international law has recognized.

The second world war for example was sparked by Germany's invasion of Poland, and drew into the fighting countries that were not direct parties to the conflict. One of the fruits of war was the creation of the United Nations in order to settle disputes between nations by peaceful means or indeed if necessary by a collective military force. No. one should argue therefore that Egypt and the Roman Empire for example should have been left alone to solve their mutual problems. In modem times the rest of the family of nations consider it a duty to do something about it. Fourteen centuries prior to the establishment of the League of Nations and later the United Nations, Islam decreed such responsibility.

The legal principle of intervention to solve dispute was offered by the Qoranic saying:

"If two parties of beievers fall into a quarrel, make ye peace" between them: But if one of them transgresses beyond bounds against the other, then fight ye (all) against the one that transgresses until it complies with the command of God; but if it complies, then make peace between them with justice, and be fair: for God loves those who are fair (and just)." (40:9)

Respect of Treaties and Agreements

One of the major shortcomings of modern international politics is its meagre regard to moral obligation. Time and again treaties and agreements proved unworthy of the price of paper they had been written on. The most splendid produce of the human intellect" in the field of international law might instantly vanish upon the call of greed or creed at this age that we wish to think has brought us to the epic of civilization. And what is worse, is that the most sophisticated achievements of scientific progress are often used as tools in the hands of Godless or God-disregarding policies: instead of being" exploited 'in the cause of God."

From the outset Islam has emphatically prohibited treachery by taking the enemy by surprise attack. Recent examples of signing a pact or treaty with a nation as camouflage to hidden intent to attack it are quite contrary to Islam, as several quotations from the Qoran show:

* Ye who believe! Fullfill "all obligations" (5:1)

*  "... And fulfIll (every) engagement, for (every engagement will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning)". (17:34)

* Fulfill the convenant of God when you have entered into it, and break not your oaths after you have confirmed them; indeed you have made God your surety, for God knoweth an that you do". (16:91)

If muslims sense the treachery of any enemy with whom they had a treaty, they should declare to him the annulment of that treaty before embarking on war again.

"Althou fearest treachery from any group, throw back (their covenant) to them, (so as to be) on equal terms: for God loveth not the treacherous". (18:58)

Although muslims are bound to go to the help of their muslem brethren who are religiously persecuted in the land of an enemy; they are not allowed to fulfill this duty if there lis a treaty between the muslim community and this enemy. Priority goes to honouring the treaty.

"But if they seek your aid in religion, it is your duty to help them, except against a people with whom you have a treaty of mutual alliance. And (remember) God seeth an that you do". (8:72)

*Can any law be more idealistic?

And -above all -this is not a nicety to be taken or left by the state. It is a binding religious dictate overruling emotion and prejudice: otherwise it would be a grave violation of Islam.