The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 223
V - Conduct of the Holy Prophet sa with Slaves and His Teachings on the Issue of Slavery 223 peace and international unity. Now remains the question of individual possession. As such, it is true that initially prisoners from among the disbelievers were generally divided amongst Muslim warriors. In actuality, this is the sole aspect which can be considered as giving this law a character of slavery. However, if one contemplates, this practice was not objectionable at all considering the circumstances in which this practice was implemented, nor could it be classified as real slavery, i. e. , by that definition of slavery, as is understood in the non-Islāmic world. The reason being that firstly, Islām did not originally institute this practice, nor has it been mentioned in the specific teaching, which has been given by Islām with respect to prisoners of war. 1 Rather, in actuality, this was a counter-strategy which was employed in response to the cruel behaviour of the disbelievers. In other words, since the disbelievers would use the Muslim prisoners as slaves and distribute them amongst their own men; in order to bring them to their senses, the practice of giving disbelieving prisoners into the individual custody of the Muslims was also employed in Islām. However, despite this, Islām did not allow for these prisoners to be made into slaves as was done by the disbelievers. Furthermore, it was stipulated that upon the conclusion of war they would definitely be set free. The second reason for employing a practice of individual custody was because at that time, there was no custom of state prisons; rather, enemy prisoners were distributed amongst the individuals of the nation that stood victorious, who would keep them under their own supervision. In the beginning, it was this very practice that was prevalent in Islām. Hence, in actuality, this was not slavery; rather, it was a system of keeping prisoners, which was gradually replaced by the use of state prisons. It should also be remembered that as far as the Islāmic State was concerned, this method was not at all painful for prisoners. As a matter of fact, this method definitely afforded them more comfort than even the state prisons of this day and age. Due to the emphatic teaching of the Holy Prophet sa and vigilant supervision of the State, disbelieving prisoners did not stay with Muslim families as their servants and slaves; rather, they were considered to be members of the family. They were welcomed and received as guests. As such, we have seen that the Muslims kept the prisoners of Badr, the better part of whom were the most bitter enemies of Islām, in such ease and comfort that 1 * Al-Anfāl (8:68) * Muḥammad (47:5)