Islam and Slavery — Page 54
54 study of the true situation will show, that truly speaking it is not slavery at all. It is merely a form of imprisonment which is further restricted and qualified by a fundamental law enunciated in the verse given below. . The third verse of the Quran runs as follows: | "If you think it necessary to retaliate upon the enemy or take some strong measure against him by way of retribution, then should take care that the action you take against him does not exceed the evil that has been done to you, and that you resort not to any measure which the enemy has not been the first to resort to. If, however, it be possible for you to exercise patience, then have patience, for patience is better. " (1). Under this principle, the alternative course with regard to prisoners i. e. , that which pertains to the prolongation of imprisonment, may take different forms. For instance, if the enemy exacts some service from Muslim prisoners, the. Muslims can also exact suitable service from the prisoners taken from the enemy but this service shall be subject to the general conditions governing the exacting of service from slaves. Thus the prisoners of war shall not be called upon to perform a work which is more than they can bear, nor shall they be required to do a work which their captors. are not themselves willing to do. Similarly, if the belligerent nation instead of keeping Muslim prisoners in State prisons, distributes them among its individuals, the Muslims shall also have a right to place their prisoners in the custody (1) Quran; 16:127.