The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page ccxviii
GENERAL INTRODUCTION great respect. Any mistakes or discourtesies they commit should be ignored (Abū Dawūd, Kitābul-Jihād). (xiii) If a Muslim commits the sin of ill-treating a prisoner of war, atonement is to be made by releasing the prisoner without ransom. (xiv) When a Muslim takes charge of a prisoner of war, the latter is to be fed and clothed in the same way as the Muslim himself (Bukhārī). The Holy Prophet was so insistent on these rules for a fighting army that he declared that whoever did not observe these rules, would fight not for God but for his own mean self (Abū Dāwūd). Abū Bakr, the First Khalifah of Islam, supplemented these commands of the Prophet by some of his own. One of these commands appended here also constitutes part of the Muslim teaching: (xv) Public buildings and fruit-bearing trees (and food crops) are not to be damaged (Mu'aṭṭā). From the sayings of the Prophet and the commands of the First Khalifah of Islam it is evident that Islam has instituted steps which have the effect of preventing or stopping a war or reducing its evil. As we have said before, the principles which Islam teaches are not pious precepts only; they have their practical illustration in the example of the Prophet and the early Khalifahs of Islam. As all the world knows, the Prophet not only taught these principles; he practised them and insisted on their observance. Turning to our own time we must say that no other teaching seems able to solve the problem of war and peace. The teaching of Moses is far from our conceptions of justice and fair-play. Nor is it possible to act upon that teaching today. The teaching of Jesus is impracticable and has ever been so. Never in their history have Christians tried to put this teaching into practice. Only the teaching of Islam is practicable; one which has been both preached and practised by its exponents, and the practice of which can create and maintain peace in the world. In our time, Mr. Gāndhī apparently taught that even when war is forced on us we should not go to war. We should not fight. But this teaching has not been put into practice at any time in the history of the world. It has never been put in the crucible and tested. It is impossible, therefore, to say what value this teaching may have in terms of war and peace. Mr. Gāndhi lived long enough to see the Indian Congress attain to political independence. Yet the Congress government has not disbanded either the army or the other armed forces of India. It is only making plans for their Indianisation. It also has plans for the reinstatement of those Indian officers who constituted themselves into the Indian National Army (and who were dismissed by the British authorities) during the Japanese attack on Burma and India in the last stages of the recent World War. Mr. Gāndhi has himself, on many occasions, raised his voice in cxcii