A Reflection on the Right to be granted the Prisoner of War status in the Islamic Jurisprudence

The phenomenon of captivity is caused by war. Captive is a combatant captured by enemy forces during an armed conflict. As far as the captives’ rules and rights are concerned, a significant question not discussed adequately, is whether captivity is a right. If the answer is positive, is it the captive’s right or the captor's or the right of both? In fact, the authors intend to identify the post-captivity rules not pre-captivity rules; i.e. principally, does Islamic jurisprudence recognize a phenomenon such as “captivity”? What is the attitude of contemporary international law in this regard? This paper, after studying the possibilities of this issue, has concluded that captivity is a right for the powerless combatant and a rule and duty for prevailing forces. The sources of religious rules including the holy Quran, sunna and the behavior of wise all indicate the necessity of preserving the life of combatant who is not able to continue the battle. International conventions have emphasized on the encompassing respect of the captives' rights particularly preserving their lives.