Life-of-Muhammad

118Life of Muhammad sa(xiv) When a Muslim takes charge of a prisoner ofwar, the latter is to be fed and clothed in the same wayas the Muslim himself (Bukhari).The Holy Prophet sa was so insistent on these rules fora fighting army that he declared that whoever did notobserve these rules, would fight not for God but for hisown mean self (Abu Dawud).Abu Bakr ra , the First Khalifah of Islam,supplemented these commands of the Prophet sa by someof his own. One of these commands appended here alsoconstitutes part of the Muslim teaching:(xv) Public buildings and fruit-bearing trees (and foodcrops) are not to be damaged (Mu’atta).From the sayings of the Prophet sa and the commandsof the First Khalifah of Islam it is evident that Islam hasinstituted steps which have the effect of preventing orstopping a war or reducing its evil. As we have saidbefore, the principles which Islam teaches are not piousprecepts only; they have their practical illustration inthe example of the Prophet sa and the early Khalifahs ofIslam. As all the world knows, the Prophet sa not onlytaught these principles; he practised them and insistedon their observance.Turning to our own time we must say that no otherteaching seems able to solve the problem of war andpeace. The teaching of Moses as is far from ourconceptions of justice and fair-play. Nor is it possible toact upon that teaching today. The teaching of Jesus as isimpracticable and has ever been so. Never in theirhistory have Christians tried to put this teaching intopractice. Only the teaching of Islam is practicable; onewhich has been both preached and practised by itsexponents, and the practice of which can create andmaintain peace in the world.In our time, Mr. Gandhi apparently taught that evenwhen war is forced on us we should not go to war. Weshould not fight. But this teaching has not been put intopractice at any time in the history of the world. It hasnever been put in the crucible and tested. It is