Islam Prohibits mutilation of dead bodies
The present day Iraq war is being fought between self claimed ISIS a Salafi militant group earlier associated with Al Qaeda and between Iraqi government.ISIS is trying to establish so called Khilafat in Iraq and Syria while Iraqi government who is defending its territories is accused of Shia domination.ISIS a rebel group has himself taken the responsibility of murdering 1700 Iraqi security personnel in their June Report Read here.While in retaliation Iraqi Police have killed around 42 prisoners in a Jail.
None of the group is following the actual rules of war as told by Islam.Both are daily and openly violating the established rules of war of Islam.Even ISIS has now started fighting with another Sunni group and 17 person have been killed in this fight yesterday on 21st June’14 Read here. There are similar allegations on both Assad regime and Militant groups in Syria also where both are engage in fierce fighting with each other.
Now questions arises are they fighting for Islam or for personal political gains ? Who is fighting for What ? Islam very clearly lays down following rules which are daily violated by these groups and militias.
Killing the armless,butchering,mutilating,humiliating the dead bodies has become common.Muslims of other sects are being killed by both groups for no faults.Innocent civilians and tourists are threatened,captured.All this is going in the name of Islam.
Scholars Experts on Islam of both sects have clarified that it is purely Political war and these things have no connection with religion(Read here).Rather they are misusing the name of religion to fulfill their Political objectives.
The Islamic rules of war in the Qur’an are that other communities should be treated as one’s own.There are specifically Islamic rules of war which tells how to deal with prisoners of War,Women,Children,Weak,Sick,Old Men,Non Muslims.
Fighting is justified for legitimate self-defense, to aid other Muslims and after a violation in the terms of a treaty, but should be stopped if these circumstances cease to exist. The principle of forgiveness is reiterated in between the assertions of the right to self-defense.
During his life, Muhammad Sallallaho Alaihiwassalam gave various injunctions to his forces and adopted practices toward the conduct of war. The most important of these were summarized by Muhammad’s Sallallaho Alaihiwassalam companion and first Caliph, Abu Bakr, in the form of ten rules for the Muslim army:
“O people! I charge you with ten rules; learn them well!
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.”
Before engaging in battle, the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) instructed his soldiers:
1. “Do not kill any child, any woman, or any elder or sick person.” (Sunan Abu Dawud)
2. “Do not practice treachery or mutilation.(Al-Muwatta)
3. Do not uproot or burn palms or cut down fruitful trees.(Al-Muwatta)
4. Do not slaughter a sheep or a cow or a camel, except for food.” (Al-Muwatta)
5. “If one fights his brother, [he must] avoid striking the face, for God created him in the image of Adam.” (Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
6. “Do not kill the monks in monasteries, and do not kill those sitting in places of worship. (Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal)
7. “Do not destroy the villages and towns, do not spoil the cultivated fields and gardens, and do not slaughter the cattle.” (Sahih Bukhari; Sunan Abu Dawud)
8. “Do not wish for an encounter with the enemy; pray to God to grant you security; but when you [are forced to] encounter them, exercise patience.” (Sahih Muslim)
9. “No one may punish with fire except the Lord of Fire.” (Sunan Abu Dawud).
10. “Accustom yourselves to do good if people do good, and to not do wrong even if they commit evil.” (Al-Tirmidhi)
Verse in the Holy Quraan
4:75 (Y. Ali) “And why should ye not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)?- Men, women, and children, whose cry is: “Our Lord! Rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from thee one who will protect; and raise for us from thee one who will help!”
According to Tabari, the ten bits of “advise” that Abu Bakr gave was during the Expedition of Usama bin Zayd. Imam Shaffi (founder of the Shaffi school of thought) reportedly did not consider the tradition, about the 10 rules of Abu Bakr as authentic. Abu Yusuf also countered the tradition about the instructions of Abu Bakr with hadith which claimed Abu Bakr ordered his commanders to lay waste to every village where he did not hear the call to prayer. During the Battle of Siffin, the Caliph Ali stated that Islam does not permit Muslims to stop the supply of water to their enemy. In addition to the Rashidun Caliphs, hadiths attributed to Muhammad himself suggest that he stated the following regarding the Muslim conquest of Egypt that eventually took place after his death:
“You are going to enter Egypt a land where qirat (money unit) is used. Be extremely good to them as they have with us close ties and marriage relationships. When you enter Egypt after my death, recruit many soldiers from among the Egyptians because they are the best soldiers on earth, as they and their wives are permanently on duty until the Day of Resurrection. Be good to the Copts of Egypt; you shall take them over, but they shall be your instrument and help. Be Righteous to God about the Copts.”
These principles were upheld by ‘Amr ibn al-’As during his conquest of Egypt. A Christian contemporary in the 7th century, John of Nikiû, stated the following regarding the conquest of Alexandriaby ‘Amr:
“On the twentieth of Maskaram, Theodore and all his troops and officers set out and proceeded to the island of Cyprus, and abandoned the city of Alexandria. And thereupon ‘Amr the chief of the Moslem made his entry without effort into the city of Alexandria. And the inhabitants received him with respect; for they were in great tribulation and affliction. And Abba Benjamin, the patriarch of the Egyptians, returned to the city of Alexandria in the thirteenth year after his flight from the Romans, and he went to the Churches, and inspected all of them. And every one said: ‘This expulsion (of the Romans) and victory of the Moslem is due to the wickedness of the emperor Heraclius and his persecution of the Orthodox through the patriarch Cyrus. This was the cause of the ruin of the Romans and the subjugation of Egypt by the Moslem. And ‘Amr became stronger every day in every field of his activity. And he exacted the taxes which had been determined upon, but he took none of the property of the Churches, and he committed no act of spoliation or plunder, and he preserved them throughout all his days.”
The principles established by the early Caliphs were also honoured during the Crusades, as exemplified by Sultans such as Saladin and Al-Kamil. For example, after Al-Kamil defeated theFranks during the Crusades, Oliverus Scholasticus praised the Islamic laws of war, commenting on how Al-Kamil supplied the defeated Frankish army with food:
“Who could doubt that such goodness, friendship and charity come from God? Men whose parents, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, had died in agony at our hands, whose lands we took, whom we drove naked from their homes, revived us with their own food when we were dying of hunger and showered us with kindness even when we were in their power.
Prisoners of War
The 20th-century Muslim scholar, Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi states that no prisoner should be “put to the sword” in accordance with a saying of Muhammad.
Yusuf Ali, another 20th century Muslim scholar, while commenting on verse [Quran 9:6], writes,
Even those the enemies of Islam, actively fighting against Islam, there may be individuals who may be in a position to require protection. Full asylum is to be given to them, and opportunities provided for hearing the Word of Allah…If they do not see their way to accept Islam, they will require double protection: (1) from the Islamic forces openly fighting against their people, and (2) from their own people, as they detached themselves from them. Both kinds of protection should be ensured for them, and they should be safely escorted to a place where they can be safe.[24]
Men, women, and children may all be taken as prisoners of war under traditional interpretations of Islamic law. Generally, a prisoner of war could be, at the discretion of the military leader, freed, ransomed, exchanged for Muslim prisoners,or kept as slaves.
In earlier times, the ransom sometimes took an educational dimension, where a literate prisoner of war could secure his or her freedom by teaching ten Muslims to read and write. Some Muslim scholars hold that a prisoner may not be ransomed for gold or silver, but may be exchanged for Muslim prisoners.
Women and children prisoners of war cannot be killed under any circumstances, regardless of their religious convictions, but they may be freed or ransomed. Women who are neither freed nor ransomed by their people were to be kept in bondage and referred to as malakah,dispute however exist among scholars on its interpretation. Islamic law does not put an exact limit on the number that can be kept in bondage.
During his rule, Caliph Umar made it illegal to separate related prisoners of war from each other, after a captive complained to him for being separated from her daughter.
Source: http://kohram.in/iraq-violence-and-islamic-rules-of-warwho-is-fighting-for-islam/
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