Through Force or Faith? — Page 175
Chapter 3 — Holy Prophet and Wars 175 when most of the companions did not like the stipulations and considered them humiliating. ( S ī rat ibn Hish ā m ) When wars were forced upon, it was instructed not to harm children and women ( Bukh ā r ī , Kit a bul Jihad ; Chapter: Killing women in war. Tradition No. 2792 and Abū D ā wūd, Kit a bul Jihad ; Chapter: Killing women in war. Tradition No. 2294), and elderly (Abū D ā wūd, Kit a bul Jihad ; Chapter: Regarding Calling Idolators to Islam. Tradition No. 2247), and the hermits (Musnad Ahmad, Musnad Banī Hish ā m, Musnad ‘Abdull ā h bin ‘Abb ā s. Tradition No. 2592); no one should be burnt in fire (Abū D ā wūd, Kit a bul Jihad , Chapter: Regarding The Abhorrance Of Burning The Enemy With Fire. Tradition No. 2299); not to double cross the enemy ( Muslim, Kit a bul Jihad ; Chapter on Appointment of the Leaders of Expeditions. Tradition No. 3261); not to burn any orchard or fruit-bearing tree (Musnad Ahmad, Musnad al-An sā r, Tradition No. 21334). All this was done because war in itself was not the objective of Islam or the Holy Prophet s as. The objective was self preserva- tion. Therefore, many a time, enemies who had been captured by Muslims were freed simply on the pledge that they would not fight against Muslims anymore. ( S ī rat Ibn Hish ā m ) In contrast, the prophets of the Bible, as recorded by the Bible, incessantly engaged in wars and employed very cruel means in those wars. The book Wars of Bible by the ex-president of Israel, Chaim Herzog (Chaim Herzog, Moredechai Gichon: Die bib- lischen Kriege. Bechtermunz 2001) is enough to underscore this point. One is ashamed to note the teachings about war as contained in the Bible that how can such a cruel and inhuman teachings be ascribed to God? According to Numbers 31, Moses