Free the captives

Narrated Abu Musa may Allah be pleased with him:

Islam is the religion of love, brotherhood and cooperation on righteousness and piety. No one may be oppressed under the Islamic legislation. It is a religion which defends the human principles that call upon man to respect his fellow man and to appreciate his feelings, talents and abilities, and to take into consideration his general and special circumstances.

It is a religion the calls for sticking to the ethics, it incourages its followers to feed the poor, to relieve the distress of the oppressed, to comfort the sick and the needy.

This commandment is one of the hundreds of commandments that express the tolerance of this religion even with its enemies, because it is a religion that responds to its aggression against its followers. All the sins committed by the disbeliever are expiated once he embraced Islam. Then he will be considered a brother to all of the Muslims and that he shall enjoy all the relevant rights as long as he sticks to the apparent rituals of Islam.

In this commandment the Messenger of Allah (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) orders all the Muslims to free the captive, to feed the hungry, and to visit the sick so as to relieve his suffering and renew his hopes for healing. Moreover, to remind him of the reward which Allah prepared for the patient ones.

Omar ibn al-Khattab may Allah be pleased with him assigned a portion of the Muslim treasurey to free the Muslims captives.

If there is no Muslim treasurey, the rich should do this duty. If some of them did not do it, then all of them will incur a sin, unless they repent, rectify their conditions for the sake of Allah and spent their money for his sake out of seeking his forgiveness. This is the way to escape from the torment of Allah in this world and in the Hereafter.

Freeing the captive is imposed on the people of the land on which he is fighting, but if the people of the land on which he is fighting fail short to free him, the people of the land next to them must do their best to free him because the Muslims must assist their brother.

There is nothing wrong with the exchange of the captives so that we return to the enemies their captives and take back our Muslim captives according to the circumstances and customs, and to the extent agreed upon between us and them. Let a Muslim captive be exchanged with one or two infidel captives if necessary after consulting and taking opinion. Concerning each case separately.

As for the prisoners of the infidels, we shall treat them well to show them the tolerance of Islam. Moreover, we shall let them hear the Book of Allah so that they may respond to the call of nature ( Islam ) and give up their pride and then believe in Allah as their Lord.