The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 685
PT. 10 AL-ANFĀL CH. 8 b الدُّنْيَا وَاللهُ يُرِيدُ الْآخِرَةَ وَاللهُ You desire the goods of the world, while Allah desires for you the Hereafter. And Allah is Mighty, Wise. 1155 "4:95. (a fighting that enemy combatants can be taken prisoner and that it is not lawful to take any person captive when there is no war and there has been no fighting. 1155. Important Words: ((captives) is the plural of captive) which is derived from. They say i. e. he bound or tied him, or he made him a captive or took him a prisoner. ✗means, one shackled or imprisoned; a captive (Lane). a regular fighting) is derived from (thakhuna) or (thakhana) which means, it was thick or coarse or hard. means, he rendered it thick; or he rendered him heavy or languid or enervated; or he overcame him and inflicted many wounds on him. ¿ransom he engages in يثخن ثخن means, he made a great slaughter or a great wounding among the enemy means, he made much slaughter in the earth or the land; or he fought vehemently in the earth (Lane). The expression would thus mean, till he (the Prophet) has had a regular fighting in the land, inflicting wounds on the enemy. Commentary: It was a practice among pre-Islamic Arabs (and it is regrettable that the practice still continues in some parts of the world) to take men captives even if there was no war and no fighting, and then to make them slaves. The verse abolishes this evil custom and lays down in clear words that it is only in war and after regular The verse has been very wrongly Muslims took some interpreted. It is said that when the men of the Meccan army captives at Badr, the Holy Prophet took counsel with his Companions as to what should be done with them. 'Umar suggested that they should be put to death, while Abu Bakr proposed that they should be released after accepting from them. The Holy Prophet accepted the suggestion of Abu Bakr and the prisoners were released for ransom. But it is alleged that by revealing this verse, God expressed His disapproval of the Holy Prophet's action, declaring that the captives ought to have been put to death and no ransom should have been taken for them. This interpretation, however, is obviously wrong; firstly, because God had so far sent down no commandment 1125 forbidding the release of prisoners for ransom, and, therefore, He could not reprove the Holy Prophet for accepting ransom; secondly, because the Holy Prophet had already accepted ransom for two persons taken captive at Nakhlah prior to the Battle of Badr, and God had not disapproved of this action of his;