Is it true that the Quran orders Muslims to kill their prisoners of war?

Question

There is a story told by most Muslim scholars about prophet Muhammed had an argument with his companions about what should they do with the captives of war (Badr Battle) and he finally decided to release them for ransom (money). The story tells that god did not agree on what prophet Muhammed did and he revealed a verse [8:67] that says no prophet would release any war captives until he has thoroughly subdued the whole earth and killed all pagans first!

That story makes me think of two questions:
1- Was it appropriate from prophet Muhammed to release captives of war for ransom (money)? was not this exactly what pirates used to do? Does this fit a prophet with wonderful teachings?
2- How come god orders Muslims to kill pagans and not to capture (or free) them? Should not god be more tolerant and leave it to people to accept Islam or not?

To people whi simply say that it is not true. Please read the following:
http://quran.al-islam.com/Targama/DispTargam.asp?nType=1&nSeg=0&l=arb&nSora=8&nAya=67&t=eng
http://quran.al-islam.com/Tafseer/DispTafsser.asp?l=arb&taf=TABARY&nType=1&nSora=8&nAya=67

Answer 1

this is not true....

prisoners of war are treated good, and its proven historically

http://www.myislamweb.com/forum/index.php

Answer 2

There is a passage I remember reading in the Quran that states...in my own words...... That God will treat believers in Heaven (Muslims) how ever they treated their prisoners in Life...so like most Books of Faith this one is a little confusing for those trying to respectfully understand other religions. Contradictory.
The passage I am speaking of, explained the treatment of prisoners as well though, and each was different according to their marital status, religion and gender.
Your questions
1. Pirates! Whats wrong with Pirates.....
2. A just and loving God by most folks standards would be far more tolerant.

Answer 3

"You are my battle-ax and sword," says the LORD. "With you I will shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms. With you I will shatter armies, destroying the horse and rider, the chariot and charioteer. With you I will shatter men and women, old people and children, young men and maidens. With you I will shatter shepherds and flocks, farmers and oxen, captains and rulers. "As you watch, I will repay Babylon and the people of Babylonia for all the wrong they have done to my people in Jerusalem," says the LORD. "Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth! I am your enemy," says the LORD. "I will raise my fist against you, to roll you down from the heights. When I am finished, you will be nothing but a heap of rubble. You will be desolate forever. Even your stones will never again be used for building. You will be completely wiped out," says the LORD. (Jeremiah 51:20-26)

That's from the Bible. Ever read it? And there is more where that came from.

Answer 4

Muslims dont kill others. It is a story created by Christians..

Actually Quran teaches compassion and all Muslims I have seen are following it to the letter. It is the Christians who spoiled Islam in the first place. Both of them are hand in hand in systematically creating false history and looting India.

Answer 5

alirezah. Look, Ali was once a well man and he was once robbed. But for gods sake, that was once over a thousand years in the past! Get over it. The dull La9miyat and excessive emotional garbage have got to finish. Its embarassing - and I am from Karbala so I realize first hand. Move on.

Answer 6

WELL, i cant really understand if u were really being honest with ur interpretation of the verse... first "most muslim scholars" say...and then u jump to the verse 8:67 "that says..." and on...Had u actually read the verse urself and honestly tried to get to a logical answer u wouldnt have so many problems in 'interpreting' the verse all by urself!
Further ur selection of words were quite interesting - "...until he has thoroughly subdued th ewhole earth and killed all pagans first!" - now i dont suppose u got that garbage from the Quran. definitely not! There is no controversy regarding the battle, the distribution of spoils, or the release of captives...to clear ur confusions, u need to find out what exactly happened...
that u know so much about islam, i dont think i need to relate the horrors muslims faced at the hands of the pagans of makkah...the unimaginable tortures, slaughtering, the evacuations, blockades, lootings, the physical harm and humiliation suffered by the Prophet himself...yet the Prophet Forgave them and invited them to islam(after all that happened).
however, coming to Badr, the pagans cross all limits and intended to finish every single muslim in madinah- they joined forces and gathered a huge army, more than triple the no. of muslims that were not more than 500 or so... So it all ended with the muslims victorious...what do they do with the spoils of war and with all the captives? Here lies the beauty of islam...Muslims are commanded to take the captives to a safe place and feed them, and show them compassion! -(Quranic verse - i dont remember which one) - Which ARMY in todays world does that?? - Islam sets similar rules on war...
You should realise what u say...donot jump to conclusions. thats the work of Orientalists and Anti-islamic morons.

Regarding the ransom...Muhammad submitted the mattter to the Muslims and sought their advice! He wanted them to share freely in the decision. The Muslims, for their part, discovered that the captives desired to live and that a great amount of wealth could be reaped from them as ransom ( in an attempt to take back what the pagans looted from them in Makkah). The captives sent word to Abu Bakr(pbuh) knowing that he was the nearest to Quraysh and the closest adviser and friend of Muhammad. - they asked him to beg Muhammad to spare their life and to pardon the aggression. they came up with the idea to ransom themselves. Abu Bakr promised them to do his best. They were still afraid of Umar(pbuh) who condemned enemies and advised to kill all the aggressors as they intended to kill the muslims.
The two came to the Prophet and presented thier point of view. - ( long story behind that too) Muhammad listened without answering. Abu Bakr returned to Muhammad and sought once more to stir his compassion by reminding him of the captives relation and hoping for their conversion to Islam in case they were allowed to live. Umar too, the exemplar of stern justice, returned to Muhammad "O Prophet of God, these are the enemies of God. They have belied you, fought you, and banished you...." and pleaded not to show any leniency or mercy...(dont exactly remember the following conversation)... Then the Prophet said, Among the prophets, Abu bakr is like Jesus when the latter said " If you punish them they are only Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are the All-wise and Almmighty." 'Umar, on the other hand, among the Prophets, is like Noah when the latter said:"O God, spare not one of the unbelievers;" or like Moses when he said:"O OGd, destroy their wealth and confirm them in their error theat they may not believe until they receive the painful punishment."
Then turning to the Muslims, the prophet said, 'You have families to support. Donot therefore let any of these captives escape before you, receive a ransom from him..." - the prophet even forgave a captive and let him free for him to attend a noble cause.


Keep in mind - the prophet never took any luxury for himself throughout his life,he gave anything and everything for charity. It was not unusual for him to have eaten nothing for days together.

--- as for the second question...
“Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands clear from error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things.” (Quran 2:256)

- Muslims are not allowed to force their religion by any means, we are not allowed to trick ppl. into it by cheap means...
and for u my friend i have this to say....

- “Say: O ye that reject Faith! I worship not that which ye worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship. And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship. To you be your Way, and to me mine.” ( Quran chap 109 )

- and quit all the anti - islamic sites. - not healthy.

Answer 7

The Quran, like the Bible, is full of discrepancies and, like the Bible, these are often debated. It's probably the biggest reason for the conflict between the Sunnis and Shiites.

Answer 8

peace,

The verse [8:67] is addressing Muslims ( during battle) not to capture any enemy untill the army has vanqished. As the primary goal of the Muslims should be fighting in the battle against those who are fighting them. Full attention should be paid to the battle, no attention should be paid to capturing the enemy on the battlefeild untill the battle is over and enmy has left.

Should the Muslims focus on holding the enemy soldiers in captivity, before achieving a concise victory over them, the enemy might think of launching another war against the Muslims in the future.

Allah the Almighty blamed His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) following the Battle of Badr for being concerned during the battle, with capturing enemies before subduing the whole army of the enemy. Allah the Almighty says in this regard:

“It is not fitting for a Prophet that he should have prisoners of war until he has thoroughly subdued the land. You look for the temporal goods of this world; but Allah looks to the Hereafter: And Allah is Exalted in Might, Wise.” (Al-Anfal: 67).

In this verse, "temporal goods of this world" refers to the ransom the Muslims expected to take in return for setting the enemy captives free. Here, Allah the Almighty objects that the Muslims seek to have captives before vanquishing the enemy and subduing it altogether.

It is important to note that blame in this verse, is for taking captives before subduing the enemy altogether, not for taking the ransom instead of killing them as is usually mentioned in the biographies written about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

This is supported by Almighty Allah's words: "Now when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks until, when you have routed them, then making fast of bonds; and afterward either grace or ransom till the war lay down its burdens." (Muhammad: 4)

This verse indicates that the primary concern of the Muslims on the battlefield is "smiting of the necks" of the enemy until they have been routed altogether, and then comes "making fast of bonds," which refers to holding the remaining defeated enemies in captivity.

War in Islam is not fought for the sake of bloodshed, nor is there in Islam any instruction to the effect that after vanquishing the enemy, all its male members who are held in captivity are to be beheaded as is the case in the Torah. After completely subduing the enemy, the Muslims can capture its soldiers.

As for ransom, it could mean exchanging captives between the warring sides. Muslims can exchange the captives they hold for Muslim captives in the hands of the enemy. In such a process a captive from either side may be exchanged for one or more from the other side, depending on the importance and rank of the exchanged captive and the bargain made between both sides. During this battle though the Muslims exchanged the prisioners for money, as they were in need of money. Don't forget that this is the first battle they had and were previously been forced out of their homes in Mecca, all their belongings were stolen by the meccans, and even the wealthy Muslims businesses were ruined because of being forced to leave Mecca and theft. Mohammed (pbuh) did so also because he knew the families of the captives in Makkah were financially able to pay the ransom.

Concerning the captives whose families could not afford the ransom, he (peace and blessings be upon him) released them on condition that each of them would do a service, within his capability, for the Muslim community, such as teaching ten Muslim children how to read and write. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not fear that those polytheists might fill the minds of the young Muslims with bad ideas about Islam, for the operation was done under the supervision of the Muslim community.

you asked:

1- Was it appropriate from prophet Muhammed to release captives of war for ransom (money)? was not this exactly what pirates used to do? Does this fit a prophet with wonderful teachings?

*** It was appropriate because they were in need of the money to help them in the establishment of the emerging Islamic state. Pirates do it for the money. If the Muslims were like pirates Allah (swt) wouldn't forbid them to take captives during the battle, as that's all what they'd do to profit out of the exchange. Also the Prophet (pbuh) looked out for the better of the community as he came up with the idea of exchanging prisoners for the price of teaching the illiterate Muslims.

2- How come god orders Muslims to kill pagans and not to capture (or free) them? Should not god be more tolerant and leave it to people to accept Islam or not?

*** It was war so the full attention should have been paid to the battle not to capturing prisoners. I get that you think this took place for the heck of it, Muslims bumped in Pagans and started killing. This has been a battle with the consent of the two armies. It's been long overdue. As for a long period of like 10 yrs the mekkan pagans were assaulting the Muslim (murdered the weak, forced them out of the city, some have gone to refuge in Abbasynia, and continued to provoke the Muslim minority by stealing their belongings) they also wanted to finish Islam and Mohammed and wouldn't let them live in peace although they already left their homes to live in Medina. These verses were addressing this particular battle. It was not about accepting Islam as the Quran says "there is no compulsion in religion" no one is to be forced into Islam. This was a battle against persecutors who've been harrassing the Muslims for so long.

Answer 9

Don't think it's true no religion say like that only name of realign we do all sort of stupid things.