Kidnapping is not Islamic Ways

I’m quite sure, most of us which always hope for peaceful in the world this time concerned with the bad news about the South Korean hostages, including 18 women, were kidnapped last Thursday while riding a bus through Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, Afghanistan's main thoroughfare. Some of them were shot dead by Taliban kidnappers who threatened to kill more of the 21 hostages if Kabul does not free rebel prisoners.

As a Muslim I feel more concerned because the kidnappers are my brethren in Islam, where what they have done has impact to my religion as if that allowed by Islam.

Indeed, Islam would mean the path of those who are obedient to Allah and who establish peace with Him and His creatures. So, what they’ve done, it’s not allowed and has not relation with Islam at all.

Qur’an chapter 22: verses40 and 41 states that as the Muslims had their own government established and others were initiating war, they could fight back and retaliate. They were also driven out of their homes just because they had declared Allah as their Lord. The permission to fight was only granted after the Muslims had endured a long period of continuous oppression and persecution and had the permission not been forthcoming disorder would have taken over the world. The objective for this fighting therefore was to end the oppression rather than to take revenge. Therefore the safety and security of other religions was also taken into account.

When persecution and oppression exceeds all limits force has to be utilized to halt it. Islam has never promoted coercion. Religion is a private matter for each person therefore each person has the right to spend his/her life in accordance to their beliefs. However, Muslims are enjoined through these verses to safeguard temples and churches that were in their governance.

The code of conduct of war as practiced and prescribed by the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him). This included all attacks to be made in daylight, it was commanded not to hurt children, women, the elderly, priests, in fact if a young person did not use force none was to be used against him. Encampments were only to be made where no one was inconvenienced and such was his compassion for humanity that it was not allowed to make a mark on a person’s face during fighting. There were very clear rules about keeping prisoners of wars, in fact Muslim households would forgo proper meals themselves and feed the prisoners, even their young children shared their bread with the prisoners. Envoys were accorded special respect and deference and were given special pardon for any oversights. If a prisoner of war was mistreated by the Muslim side he would be freed without any compensation. These historical facts illustrate that the early wars of Islam were to maintain freedom of conscience.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) stood before a large gathering of Muslims and delivered an address at the time of his final pilgrimage. It is well known in history as the fare-well address of the Prophet. In the course of this address he said:
“O men, lend me and attentive ear. For I know not whether I will stand before you again in this valley and address you as I address you now. Your lives and your possessions have been made immune by God to attacks by one another until the Day of Judgment.
…
O men, you still have in your possession some prisoners or war. I advise you, therefore, to feed them and to clothe them in the same way and style as you feed and clothe yourselves. If they do anything wrong which you are unable to forgive, then pass them on to someone else. They are part of God’s creation. To give them pain or trouble can never be right. O men, what I say to you, you must hear and remember. All Muslims are as brethren to one another. All of you are equal. All men, whatever nation or tribe they may belong to, and whatever station in life they may hold, are equal. Allah has made you brethren one to another, so be not divided. An Arab has no preference over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab; nor is a white one to be preferred to a dark one, nor a dark one to a white one.”

While he was saying this the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) raised his hands and joined the fingers of the one hand with the fingers of the other and then said:

“Even as the fingers of the two hands are equal, so are human beings equal to one another. No one has any right, any superiority to claim over another. You are as brothers. Do you know what month this is? What territory we are in? What day of the year is today?”

The Muslims said in reply, they knew it was the sacred month, the sacred land and the day of the Hajj. Then the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) said:

“Even as this month is sacred, this land inviolate, and this day holy, so has God made the lives, property and honor of every man sacred. To take any man’s life or his property, or attack his honor, is as unjust and wrong as to violate the sacredness of this day, this month, and this territory. What I command you today is not meant only for today. It is meant for all time. You are expected to remember it and to act upon it until you leave this world and go to the next to meet your Maker.”