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Human rights in Islam (1)
The Right to Life
Islam never fought nations but fought only despotic authorities. Islamic war was one of liberation and not of compulsion. Muslims are prohibited from opening hostilities without properly declaring war against the enemy, unless the adversary has already started aggression against them.
It was long before the Magna Carta and Geneva resolutions came into being that Islam had set human rights in its teachings . Unmindful that Allah's word will reach every corner in the world ,media and false thinkers tried to blur these ever-shining facts of the Islam with the aim of alienating people. Long ago the world suffered from violating human rights , a recently coined expression , and still does . The United Nations , dubbed as the divided nations by the persecuted every were , decreed a group of articles that have never been fully into action . Nothing to help the wounded , nothing to help widows , nothing to help the fatherless children , nothing to bring a piece of bread to the hungry but strangled by a veto resolution . When these rights were revealed in the Holy Quran and detailed in the prophets sayings , they were put into action . This is the difference between Allah's laws and man-made laws that can be violated or changed or modified . The first and the foremost basic right in Islam is the right to live and the respect of human life.
The holy Quran and the traditional sayings and acts of the prophet strictly impose the following injunctions during the time of peace and the time of war .
•No one should be burned alive or tortured with fire.
•Wounded soldiers who are neither unfit to fight, nor actually fighting, should not be attacked.
•Prisoners of war should not be killed.
•It is prohibited to kill anyone who is tied up or in captivity.
•Residential areas should not be pillaged, plundered or destroyed, nor should the Muslims touch the property of anyone except those who are fighting against them.
•Muslims must not take anything from the general public of the conquered country without paying for it.
•The corpses of the enemy must not be disgraced or mutilated..
•Corpses of the enemy should be returned.
• Treaties must not be broken.
In Islam , taking one's life is equal to taking the life of the whole of the world , how a heinous picture ! God says in the holy Quran what means " Whosoever kills a human being without (any reason like) man slaughter, or corruption on earth, it is as though he had killed all mankind ... (5:32) . This Holy verse refers to the killing of Moslem or non-Moslem .
As far as the question of taking life in retaliation for murder or the question of punishment for spreading corruption on this earth is concerned, it can be decided only by a proper and competent court of law. If there is any war with any nation or country, it can be decided only by a properly established government. In any case, no human being has any right by himself to take human life in retaliation or for causing mischief on this earth. Therefore it is incumbent on every human being that under no circumstances should he be guilty of taking a human life. If anyone has murdered a human being, it is as if he has slain the entire human race. These instructions have been repeated in the Holy Quran in another place saying:"Do not kill a soul which Allah has made sacred except through the due process of law ... (6:151) " .No racialism in Islam , all people are equal before the Divine law . Some religions , being distorted , give every privileges to their adherents only . This is not the case in Islam , the word " soul " is significant , it refers to all people , irrespective of their religions or creeds . In Islam the human soul is sacred.
Nothing is as bad as polytheism in Islam ,the Prophet, may God's blessings be on him, has declared homicide as the greatest sin only next to polytheism. The Tradition of the Prophet reads: "The greatest sins are to associate something with God and to kill a soul (human beings.)" In all verses of the Quran and the Traditions of the Prophet the word 'soul' (nafs) has been used in general terms without any distinction or particularization which might have lent itself to the elucidation that the persons belonging to one's nation, the citizens of one's country, the people of a particular race or religion should not be killed. The injunction applies to all human beings and the destruction of human life in itself has been prohibited.
Allah has made the quality of respecting one's life among the most important qualities of the true slave whom all Moslems take him as an example to follow , Allah says in the holy Quran what means " And those who invoke not any other ilaha (god) along with Allah, nor kill such person as Allah has forbidden, except for just cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse - and whoever does this shall receive the punishment." (TMQ, 25:68).
Interests
Hobbies: when someone is offended in any way , Allah limits his retaliation and even recommends forgiveness . Allah says in the holy Quran what means " And if ye do catch them out, catch them out no worse than they catch you put: but if ye show patience, that is indeed the best (course) for those who are patient " Also Islam allows dismissal or ransom for the prisoners , Allah says in the holy Quran what means when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners, and afterwards either set them free as a favor or let them ransom (themselves) until the war terminates." (Muhammad: 4) The Quranic verse thus provides alternatives: either the Muslim commander should free those captives who can not offer ransom either in the form of money or an equivalent number of Muslim captives, or he should ransom his captives for money or for a similar number of Muslim captives. This is what is now known as an exchange of prisoners. That kind of ransoming should be adopted, as it leads to the release of two big groups of people Muslims and non-Muslims. The Quranic verse does not mention a third choice, namely the enslavement of captives; the Quranic text explicitly forbids it by limiting the choice to only two alternatives free dismissal or ransoming without referring to enslavement. Thus enslavement is not involved in the choice Islam doesn't only impose the respect to human life of the prisoner but also impose feeding them ; the sound emitting from the words of the following verse, when reading it in Arabic , is soul-stirring and extremely touching. Allah has made feeding the captive as virtuous as feeding the orphan . Allah says in the holy Quran what means " And they feed, for the love of God, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive" . To visualize this , remember the following Hadith by the prophet "" I and the person who looks after an orphan and provides for him , will be in paradise like this , " putting his index and middle fingers together . Ibn Umayr, one of the captives of Muslims in the Battle of Badr recalled: "Whenever I sat with my captors for lunch or dinner, they would offer me bread and themselves [eat] the dates, in view of the Prophet's recommendation in our favor." Please note that in that desert situation, bread was a more luxurious item of food than dates. Another example ,When the Jewish tribe of Bani Qurayzah were captured, loads of dates were regularly carried to them, with the Prophet's instructions to shelter them from the summer sun and to provide them with water to drink. Thumama ibn-Athal, was taken prisoner and brought to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said: Be good to him in his captivity. When the Prophet went home he instructed to collect whatever food there, and ordered it sent to the prisoner. Moving to the Prophetic Hadiths ( traditioan sayings ) , we shall again find that the Prophet never enslaved a free man throughout his reign . His acts were moving injunctions that should be strictly followed. Umarna Ibn-Athal was set free upon his promise not to help the enemy . This gentle treatment touched the mans heart and was then converted to Islam saying to the Prophet: "There was a time when your face was the most hated face to me, and there comes a day when it is the most loved. The prophet's companions used to remind each other of the injunction concerning the respect of the prisoners . Contrary to what is practiced against the prisoners in the prisons , Islam gives good treatment to the prisoners . The messenger of Allah (SAWS) has forbidden harming or doing any injustice to prisoners of war . On the authority of Shihab he said," Accompanied by a prisoners of wars , Abo-Baker once passed by Sohib while he was sitting in the mosque , on seeing him , Sohib said " who is this with you ? " "He is a prisoner of war ; I am going to ask the prophet's consent to set him free " . Replied Abo-Baker . " There seems to be what could be the effect of a sword in his neck !!" Said Sohib ; Abo-Bakr got angry because of being accused of causing the prisoner some harm and as a result headed to the prophet . On seeing him as so angry , prophet Mohummed said " why are you angry ?" " I passed with my prisoner by Sohib ,who said when he saw the sign of a sword in my prisoner's neck " what is that in his neck ?" " prophet Mohummed said " Mind you didn't cause him any harm !!" Abo Bakr said " I swear by God , I didn't ." If you had harmed him , you would have disobeyed and displeased God and His messenger ." prophet Mohummed said .