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Jerusalem Youth Discuss Treatment of Captives in Judaism and Islam |
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Written by Dotan Arad and Salah Aladin
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Thursday, 19 April 2007 |
Jerusalem, Israel. The Jerusalem youth group met on July 19, 2006, and discussed a subject closely related to current affairs. Following the hijacking of the soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon and the issue of Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli prisons reemerging, we decided to discuss the subject of captives, especially those from another religion, in the eyes of the religion. Not through a direct political debate, but using deep intensive study of both sides' traditions.
We opened with some Jewish
sources. We learned that Judaism does not have a formal warfare
doctrine, most likely because along the greater part of Jewish history
there was no Jewish army, and therefore no questions arose on this
matter. In order to find precedents, one must go back to biblical
times.. The attitude towards captives in the Bible is usually not
compassionate. Nonetheless, we learned that despite the Prophets'
requests and guidance to the Kings of Israel not to spare the lives of
the captives and to kill them, kings of Israel usually acted
differently, and were compassionate and kind to their captives. For
example, Prophet Samuel and King Saul, the first asking to kill the
captives, while the second spared their lives and refused to kill them.
Such incidents resulted in a stereotypic conception that the Israeli
Kings are merciful and forgiving, a stereotype which caused their
enemies to prefer to fall captive than to fight and die. On the other
hand, Islam is much more detailed on this subject and holds a
formulated doctrine regarding the attitude towards captives, perhaps
since large army campaigns accompanied the spreading of Islam. Islam,
through the teachings of Prophet Mohammad saw captives as people who
are under the responsibility of the army thus requiring the army to
provide them with food, protection and shelter. In spite of the clear
and organized doctrine towards captives, there were exceptions carried
out by Prophet Mohammad himself, such as executing captives. However,
these incidents were usually punishments to traitors or criminal
captives (equivalent to today's "war criminals").We learned that
sometimes, a clear and organized doctrine which instructs us how to act
is not enough, but it is also important to act on it in the right way.
We also learned that it is essential to live by our opinions and behave
in a humane and merciful way, as King Saul when he disobeyed Prophet
Samuel. As the Arabic proverb says: spare others the moment you become
stronger.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 April 2007 )
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