The war in Islam is a means whose ultimate goal is peace and the establishment of justice and kindness in human life. It is governed by noble morals and ideal principles, among which is good treatment of prisoners.

The POWs of Badr.

Seventy men from the polytheists were captured by the Muslims. The Prophet ﷺ treated them gently and decided to exempt them from execution, allowing ransom from those who could afford it, with the amount and type of ransom varying based on the situation of each captive. Those without money could ransom themselves by teaching some Muslims reading and writing. The Prophet released some captives and granted them freedom without ransom, and he treated Suhayl ibn Amr well, one of the orators of the polytheists who had incited people against him and spoke ill of him. The Prophet ﷺ was prompt in instructing his companions on how to treat their captives well, highlighting how Muslims should behave towards their captives. The companions, may Allah be pleased with them, adhered to his command, to the extent that they prioritized the captives over themselves. Abu Aziz ibn Umayr said: "I was among the captives on the day of Badr. The Prophet ﷺ said, 'Treat the captives kindly.' I was with a group of the Ansar, and when they brought out their food for lunch and dinner, they ate dates and gave me bread.

The companions, may Allah be pleased with them, would offer the captives wheat bread despite their love for it, and they would eat dates instead. Their situation in prioritizing the captives was similar to their prioritization of the needy, and thus they deserved Allah's praise, as Allah the Exalted said.( and give food—despite their desire for it—to the poor, the orphan, and the captive (8) saying, ‘We feed you for the sake of God alone: We seek neither recompense nor thanks from you.(9) ) (Al-Insan)

The matter did not stop there; rather, Allah, Glory be to Him and Exalted, consoled the captives regarding what was taken from their ransom. He promised those among them whom He knew had goodness in them what would be better for them. Thus, they received the care of Allah, the Almighty, just as they received the care of His Messenger, peace be upon him. Allah, the Exalted, said, addressing His Prophet: (O Prophet! Tell the captives in your custody, “If Allah finds goodness in your hearts, He will give you better than what has been taken from you and forgive you. For Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.) (Al-Anfal:70)

The Guidance of the Prophet ﷺ and the Rulings of Islam.

The guidance of the Prophet ﷺ was to treat prisoners of war kindly, and this often led to their conversion to Islam and changed their circumstances. Safana bint Hatem al-Ta'i was captured by the Muslims and brought to Medina. The Prophet ﷺ passed by her, and she stood up to speak to him about herself, saying: "My father has died and the one who used to provide for us is absent, so grant me a favor from Allah.

When the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) learned of her story and recognized her father, he freed her and treated her kindly. Safana said: So, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) clothed me, carried me, and provided me with expenses.

The Muslims captured Thumamah ibn Uthal al-Hanafi and brought him to Medina, where they tied him to one of the pillars of the mosque. Thumamah was the chief of Banu Hanifah in the land of Yamamah. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) went out to him and said, "What do you have to say, O Thumamah?

Thumamah said: "I have good news for you, O Muhammad. If you kill me, you will kill someone with blood (a person of status); if you grant me kindness, I will be grateful; and if you want money, ask for whatever you wish."

He was left until the next day. The Prophet ﷺ asked him: "What do you have, O Thumamah?"

He replied: "What I told you, if you grant me kindness, I will be grateful."

He was left until after the next day, and the Prophet ﷺ asked him again: "What do you have, O Thumamah?" He replied: "I have what I told you."

So, the Prophet ﷺ said: "Release Thumamah.

He went to a palm tree near the mosque, bathed, and then entered the mosque, saying: "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." He added, "O Muhammad, by Allah, there was no face on earth that I hated more than your face, but now your face has become the most beloved face to me. By Allah, there was no religion that I hated more than your religion, but now your religion has become the most beloved religion to me. By Allah, there was no country that I hated more than your country, but now your country has become the most beloved country to me. And my horse brought me to you while I was intending to perform Umrah, so what do you think?

The Messenger of God - peace be upon him - gave him good news and instructed him to perform Umrah. When he arrived in Mecca, someone asked him: "Have you turned away from your religion?" He replied: "No, but I have embraced Islam with Muhammad, the Messenger of God - peace be upon him - and by God, no grain of wheat will come to you from Al-Yamama until the Prophet - peace be upon him - gives permission for it." (Reported in Sahih al-Bukhari)

The Prophet's forgiveness towards the captives of Hawazin

After the Muslims were victorious in the Battle of Hunayn against Hawazin (a large and well-known Arab tribe in the Arabian Peninsula), they gained many spoils from this battle. Then, a delegation from Hawazin came and announced their Islam; this delegation consisted of fourteen individuals representing the various clans of Hawazin, except for Thaqif. They asked the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to return to them their wealth and what had been taken from their women and children during the Battle of Hunayn. They said, "O Messenger of Allah! We are a clan and a family, so be gracious to us, as Allah has been gracious to you. Indeed, we have been afflicted with trials that are not hidden from you." Zahir bin Sard, one of the Banu Sa'd bin Bakr (the tribe of Halima al-Sa'diyah), said, "O Messenger of Allah, your aunts and maternal relatives and those who nursed you are in the captives," and they then asked him to return their wealth and captives.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) hastened to respond to the request of Hawazin due to what was known of him in terms of mercy, forgiveness, and generosity. It was narrated by Al-Maswar ibn Makhramah and Marwan ibn al-Hakam that when a delegation from Hawazin came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) as Muslims, they asked him to return their wealth and captives to them. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to them: "The most beloved speech to me is the truest one, so choose one of the two parties (either the wealth or the captives). I have been waiting for them." The Prophet (peace be upon him) had waited for them for more than ten nights after he returned from Ta'if. When it became clear to them that the Prophet (peace be upon him) would only return to them one of the two parties, they said: "We choose our captives." The Prophet (peace be upon him) stood up before the people, praised Allah as He deserves, and then said: "As for what follows, your brothers have come to us in repentance, and I have seen that I should return their captives to them. Whoever among you would like to make that easy (return their captives willingly), let him do so. And whoever would like to keep his share (of the captives) until we give it to him from what Allah will grant us first, let him do so." The people said: "We have made it easy." He then said: "Indeed, we do not know who among you has given consent and who has not, so return until your leaders convey your decision to us." The people returned, and their leaders spoke to them, and then they came back to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and informed him: "We have made it easy and given our consent." This is what has reached us regarding the captives of Hawazin." (Narrated by Al-Bukhari).

The treatment of prisoners by the Crusaders.

Jerusalem fell in 1099 AD due to several factors, including the weakness of the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad and the Fatimid control of Egypt. The Islamic weakness in the provinces gathered the ambitions of the Crusader campaigns, which became like a cancer gnawing at the body of the nation.

The Crusades were military campaigns that began to invade Muslim lands under the pretext of rescuing and protecting holy sites from Muslims. However, their primary aim was colonial in nature. Regarding the entry of the Crusaders into Jerusalem, as Ibn Al-Athir states in his history, "The Franks took Jerusalem on a Friday, seven days before the end of Shaban, and the people wielded swords. The Franks remained in the city for a week, killing Muslims. A group of Muslims sought refuge in the shrine of David, where they held out and fought for three days. The Franks killed more than seventy thousand in Al-Aqsa Mosque, including a large number of Muslim leaders, scholars, worshippers, and ascetics, who had left their homelands and sought proximity to that holy place.⁽¹⁾

As Stephen Runciman described in his book "A History of the Crusades," what happened in Jerusalem on the day the Crusaders entered: "In the early morning of the following day, a group of Crusaders stormed the gate of the mosque, exterminating all the refugees inside. When the leader of the force, Raymond of Toulouse, went to visit the Temple area in the morning, he had to feel his way among the bodies and the blood that reached his knees. The massacre of Jerusalem left a profound impact on the entire world, and the exact number of its victims is not known; however, it led to the city being emptied of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants. In fact, many Christians were deeply distressed by what had happened.

The Tolerance and Elevation of Salah al-Din.

When Salah al-Din entered Jerusalem as a conqueror, he did not seek revenge or kill; in fact, the victorious Muslims were renowned for their integrity. The just king was moved by the sight of the prisoners' misery and asked his brother Salah al-Din to release a thousand captives, which he granted. The just king immediately set them free and Salah al-Din declared that he would release all the elders and elderly women.

This act is not only with the residents of the city, but we also see the clergy, led by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, as he pays the ten dinars amount required for the ransom.

The women of the Crusaders approached, their eyes filled with tears, asking Saladin what would become of them after their husbands or fathers had met their fate, or had been taken captive. Saladin responded by promising to release all those in captivity from their husbands, and he offered gifts from his treasury to widows and orphans—each according to their situation. His compassion and kindness were in stark contrast to the actions of the invading Crusaders.

The Great Seljuks' Treatment of Prisoners

We do not forget the immortal Battle of Manzikert and its hero, Sultan Alp Arslan. In this battle, which was against the Byzantine Empire that had prepared to take revenge on Sultan Alp Arslan and the Seljuks, God granted victory to the Muslims and helped them, leading to the death of many of the enemy's troops, and their king, Romanus, was captured.⁽²⁾ When he stood before King Alp Arslan, Alp Arslan said: "If I were the captive before you, what would you do?" He replied: "Every kind of disgrace." The king asked: "What do you think I would do to you?" He said: "Either you would kill me and disgrace me in your land, or you would pardon me and take a ransom and send me back." The king said: "I have decided on nothing but pardon and ransom." So, he was ransomed for one million dinars and five hundred thousand dinars. He stood before the king and was given a drink of water, then he prostrated himself on the ground before him. The king sent a military escort with him to protect him back to his country, along with a banner inscribed with "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.⁽³⁾

The Dust and the Pleiades

The greatness of Islam is evident in the treatment of prisoners when we compare Muslims with other nations. The Romans in ancient times and before them the Assyrians and the Pharaohs would blind their eyes, skin them alive, and feed their flesh to their dogs. As a result, prisoners would prefer death over life. This has no place in the law of the One who said to Him in His clear Book. (We have sent you ˹O Prophet˺ only as a mercy for the whole world.) (Al-Anbya : 107)

What we are witnessing now in occupied Palestine between Palestinians and Zionists regarding the treatment of prisoners—these displays show us the significant differences between the two sides, which prompts us to remind ourselves of this. The Palestinians, for their part, have adhered, to the extent possible, to the noble teachings of Islam regarding the good treatment of prisoners. This has been acknowledged by Zionist media, according to testimonies from prisoners returning from the Gaza Strip. They confirmed that they found good treatment from the Palestinians, and that they were never subjected to any form of violence or humiliation. In fact, the impact of the good treatment of prisoners by some Palestinians has led a few who witnessed how the Palestinians treated the prisoners to declare their conversion to Islam, while those who did not convert expressed their gratitude.

Indeed, the prisoners themselves, upon their return, expressed their gratitude for the kind treatment they received. This refutes any claims of pressure being exerted on them and provides evidence of their sincerity as they bid farewell with words of thanks and smiles.

While the Palestinians were creating this magnificent image, we were witnessing a bleak situation on the other side in dealing with the prisoners. The Israelis inflicted severe torture on the Palestinian prisoners, and it reached a point of rape and sending them off with humiliating beatings, resulting in their release in a sickly state, suffering from malnutrition and various diseases. The repression even extended to preventing the families of the prisoners from celebrating their return.

The distance between the two east

The clear difference between the treatment of prisoners by them and by the Palestinians besieged in the Gaza Strip is the difference between the people of faith and Islam and the people of disbelief and crime. The occupation would not have released the Palestinian prisoners if it had not been able to break the will of the resistors, despite all the killing, destruction, displacement, and exile it caused, and despite all the acts of genocide and crimes against humanity it committed. This means that this war is a war of will and determination, not a war of killing and destruction.

The Palestinians were able, with the modest resources they had, to withstand a heavily armed army that was said to be invincible and unbeatable, one that had weapons beyond imagination, as their brothers supported them in their struggles and spared no effort.

Despite this, he has failed to achieve his declared goals and has reluctantly accepted the conditions of the truce. Do people realize these meanings? Some see nothing but destruction and the loss of lives. Have they failed to see the people of Gaza?! They declare their pride with dignity and honor: "Indeed, their suffering is immense, but their goal is great; their calamity is evident, but their certainty is strong; their despair is significant, but their patience is beautiful; and the conspiracy against them is vast, yet they trust in the Most High. The enemy may return to attack, and they will greet him as they did the first time, defending themselves with great steadfastness." Allah, the Almighty, has said...(  they prayed, “Our Lord! Shower us with perseverance, make our steps firm, and give us victory over the disbelieving people.) (Al-Baqarah:250)
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1. The Complete History by Ibn Al-Athir, Volume 8, pages 189-190
2. The Ottoman Empire: Factors of Rise and Reasons for Decline by Dr. Ali Muhammad Al-Salabi, page 31
3. The previous source, quoting from "Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya" (12/108).