Upon capture, the prisoners must be guarded and not ill-treated. Islamic law holds that the prisoners must be fed and clothed, either by the Islamic government or by the individual who has custody of the prisoner. This position is supported by the verse of the
Quran. The prisoners must be fed in a dignified manner, and must not be forced to beg for their subsistence. Muhammad's early followers also considered it a principle to not separate prisoners from their relatives. The freeing or ransoming of prisoners by Muslims themselves is highly recommended as a charitable act. and recommends, their liberation by purchase or
manumission. The freeing of captives is recommended both for the expiation of sins and as an act of simple benevolence. However, the Quran also permits certain forms of punishments against certain captives, such as those who are deemed as waging war against Islam, disbelievers, adulterers and fornicators.
Women and children According to the authentication of Muslim scholars, women and children prisoners of war cannot be killed under any circumstances, regardless of their faith, but that they may be enslaved, freed or ransomed. Women who are neither freed nor ransomed by their people were to be kept in bondage and referred to as
ma malakat aymanukum (slaves) to give them their rights to survive peacefully, and they could not be left astray. Some modern
Islamic extremist groups have
taken slaves, including women and children.
Abubakar Shekau, the leader of
Boko Haram, a Nigerian extremist group, said in an interview, "I shall capture people and make them slaves" when claiming responsibility for the
2014 Chibok kidnapping. Shekau has justified his actions by appealing to the
Quran saying "[w]hat we are doing is an order from Allah, and all that we are doing is in the Book of Allah that we follow". In October 2014, in its digital magazine
Dabiq, ISIL explicitly claimed religious justification for enslaving
Yazidi women. Specifically, ISIL argued that the Yazidi were idol worshipers and justified the
sexual slavery of the captured non-muslim victims as a permissible manner of enjoying the spoils of war. ISIL appealed to
apocalyptic beliefs and "claimed justification by a Hadith that they interpret as portraying the revival of slavery as a precursor to the end of the world."
Men One traditional opinion holds that executing prisoners of war is strictly forbidden; this is the most widely accepted view, and one upheld by the
Hanafi madhab. However, the opinion of the
Maliki,
Shafi'i,
Hanbali and
Jafari madhabs is that adult male prisoners of war may be executed. The decision for an execution is to be made by the Muslim leader. This opinion was also held by the Muslim judge,
Sa'id bin Jubair (665-714 AD) and
Abu Yusuf, a classical jurist from the
Hanafi school of jurisprudence. Most contemporary Muslim scholars prohibit altogether the killing of prisoners and hold that this was the policy practiced by
Muhammad. The 20th-century Muslim scholar,
Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi states that no prisoner should be "put to the sword" in accordance with a
saying of
Muhammad.
Yusuf Ali, another 20th-century
Muslim scholar, while commenting on verse , writes, Maududi further states that Islam forbids torturing, especially by fire, and quotes Muhammad as saying, "Punishment by fire does not behoove anyone except the Master of the Fire [God]." while later scholars favouring the same opinion include
Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Qurtubl (d. 671/1272), who cites in proposing the impossibility of execution if the letter of the Qur'an is followed.
Ibn Rushd (d. 594/1198) is also quoted: "[A] number of jurists did not permit executing the prisoners of war. Al-Hasan b. Muhammad al-Tamïmï (d. 656/1258) stated consensus (
ijma) of the
Companions on this view." He further said that the rare executions were more due to the crimes they committed before the captivity than their status of POW itself. A well known case which is relevant in this regard is that of
'Abd Allah b. Khatal, who was one of the few people who were not granted immunity at the
conquest of Mecca. A group of people "could have been punished by a tribunal should there have been one at the time”. But he was the only one executed for what we would today call
high treason (as he collected tax money from Muslims before defecting and fighting them). He also said that "in the first one hundred years of Islamic military history, that is, from the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) till the time of Caliph
'Umar b. 'Abdul 'Aziz, there were only six or seven such cases, even if we were to accept the spurious reports of such executions."
Prosecuting prisoners In Islamic law, prisoners of war may be tried, convicted and punished for crimes beyond the belligerency itself. However, they may not be punished merely for being belligerents. ==See also==