Nick Berg

When Islam came to this world there were no international organizations or treaties. Instead, Islam brought a revelation from Allah that came to secure the happiness and wellbeing of all humanity for all time. Among the teachings brought by this revelation � which are embodied in the Quran and Sunnah � is how prisoners of war are supposed to be treated.

Islam declared that the Muslims have to feed their prisoners of war and never allow them to go hungry. Moreover, the type of food that they have to provide for them must be, in both quality and quantity, equal to that which the Muslims eat themselves, if not better.

Allah says: And they feed, for the love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan, and the prisoner of war.[Surah al-Insan: 8]

Abu `Aziz b. `Umayr, a prisoner who was captured after the battle of Badr, described how the Muslims treated him. He said: �I was among some people of the inhabitants of Madinah when they were returning from Badr. Whenever they received lunch or supper they would give me priority to have the bread and they sufficed with dates because of the recommendation given to them about us by the Prophet (peace be upon him). Whenever a piece of bread would come into the hands of any one of them, he would give it to me.�

Islam, by its mercy and justice, commands Muslims to treat prisoners of war kindly. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: �I entreat you to treat the prisoners of war in the best manner.�

Someone once asked the great jurist Malik: "May a prisoner be tortured in hopes of extracting information about the vulnerabilities of the enemy?�"

Malik denounced the idea, saying: "I have never heard of such a thing."

The fate of the prisoners of war after their capture, is dictated to us by the Quran, which instructs us with: "either generosity or ransom". [Surah Muhammad: 4]

These are the two options: to either release the prisoner without any ransom, which is the meaning of Allah's saying "generosity" or to ransom them for their release. This may take place by way of a prisoner exchange or by taking a payment from the prisoner.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) accepted ransom from some prisoners of Badr. That ransom was for them to teach the children of the Muslims how to read and write.

Killing the prisoner is not an option at all. It was not mentioned in the verse.

On some occasions, the Prophet (peace be upon him) executed some prisoners. However, they were not killed because they were prisoners of war, but because of heinous crimes that they had committed. They were executed for what would now be referred to as war crimes.

The killing in Iraq of the American Nick Berg in that repugnant way is clearly contrary to the teachings of Islam. First of all, killing a civilian is never allowed. Killing a prisoner of war who is a member of the enemy military is also impermissible, upon the strongest saying of the scholars, unless that prisoner has a clear record of war crimes.

Even supposing a certain prisoner was a war criminal and legally deserved the death penalty; such a repugnant and degrading way of killing is even then unlawful, regardless of the enormity of the person�s crimes. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: �If you kill, then kill properly.� This is what the Prophet (peace be upon him) said regarding slaughtering an animal for food. Then how about when it comes to killing a human being?

We should recognize that these vile actions only represent the individuals who committed them. They do not represent Islam in any way. The teachings of Islam are clearly discernable in the Quran, the Sunnah, and the biographies of the Companions and the Successors.

In fact, the strict adherence of these earliest Muslims to the true teachings of Islam in times of war was a reason why so many people embraced Islam. They were merciful to all human beings, as was their Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who had taught them.

These are our values that are immutable, regardless of the circumstances and regardless of the conduct of others. We must never go against our values, since they are, in essence, our Islam.