Treatment of the Prisoners of War

With the conquest of Alexandria, all of Egypt was conquered. Through these battles a large number of prisoners of war were captured. Hazrat Umar (ra) gave the following directives in a letter to Hazrat Amr (ra) regarding these prisoners: “Summon all of them and tell them they may choose to become Muslim should they wish to, or they may choose to remain upon their existing religion. If they accept Islam, they will be granted all those rights the Muslims have been afforded. Otherwise, they will have to give the jizya, which is given by all non-Muslim subjects.”

When this announcement was read before the prisoners, many chose to become Muslim, whilst many others chose to remain on their existing faith. Whenever anyone amongst them decided to embrace Islam, the other Muslims would all raise slogans of “Allah is the Greatest.” Whenever anyone amongst the prisoners professed to continue their belief in Christianity, the other Christians would sing tributes of praise, leaving the Muslims feeling sorrowful.

*(Al-Faruq, Shibli Nomani, pp. 162-165, Dar al-Isha‘ah, Karachi, 1991) (Al-Salabi, Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (ra) translated [Khangarh, Pakistan: Al-Furqan Trust], pp. 760-764) *