Understanding Islam — Page 179
177 If the female prisoner chooses not to use option 5, it clearly means that something is preventing her from going back to her home country as she has clearly refrained from exercising her right to earn her release. In such a case, her Muslim master was allowed to marry her involuntarily as a last resort. As Islam is a religion that promotes moral values, this last step is one of necessity. If the prisoner is allowed to stay with her master without marriage, it has the danger of leading to fornication and other possible vices which can in turn lead to immorality in the Islamic society. After all this, if the female prisoners gives birth to a child, she automatically becomes a free woman. 15 We have discussed this issue here in principle but it is clear that none of this applies in the modern age due to the existence of state prisons and penitentiaries.