The New World Order of Islam — Page 74
New World Order 74 take prisoners of war, but even with regard to them, rules were framed which were in advance of those which the Allies and the Axis Powers observe today. Let me briefly recapitulate them. Prisoners could only be made in a war waged to secure freedom of religion. At the end of the war they must be released either without ransom or on payment of ransom. Ransom may be paid by the prisoner himself, or on his behalf by his relatives, tribe or State. If this cannot be arranged, the prisoner can ask for settlement of instalments and on these being settled, he is free to labour and earn as he may choose. So much with regard to slavery or quasi-slavery. I now turn to the slavery which in practice results from economic conditions. Before I go on to explain the remedies which Islam has proposed in this field, it is necessary to remind ourselves of the theories which lead to that discrimination between the rich and the poor which we observe today. First, it is sometimes said that as in the last resort most people act upon the rule of might being right, the rest of mankind is forced in sheer self-defence to follow it. For instance, the British when they possessed the power took whatever they could lay their hands on. Other countries may, therefore, consider it quite legitimate to follow in their footsteps. Thus when Italy invaded Abyssinia, Mussolini was at