The New World Order of Islam — Page 68
New World Order 68 their marriage; and if ever any of you should happen to strike any of them the only penalty for this is liberation. ' Many of them may be released unconditionally or only on condition that they will not again participate in a war against Muslims. I doubt very much whether today the most civilized State would forego reparations merely on condition that prisoners of war released by it shall not again participate in a war against itself. It is necessary to say a word here in explanation of the system of ransoming prisoners of war. As I have already said, the first injunction of Islam is to release prisoners of war without ransom, but if a captor cannot afford to do this, he must release his prisoner or prisoners on receipt of ransom which is only a sort of reparation, or a recoupment of the expenses incurred by the captor on account of the war. The difference between conditions then prevailing and those prevailing today is that in those times each warrior had to provide his own arms and equipment, and reparation was also exacted by individuals. There were no regular armies nor any arrangements for the maintenance or custody of prisoners of war on a large scale. Prisoners of war were, therefore, distributed among those who had borne the expense of the campaign and had made sacrifices in respect of it. Now that modern States maintain regular armies, and in times of war all military activity is financed and