When `Umar ibn `Abdul `Aziz came to the office of caliphate, a delegation
of men from Samarqand saw him and represented that the general of the
Islamic armies, Qutaibah, had unjustifiably stationed his army men in the
town in their midst. `Umar ibn `Abdul `Aziz wrote to the governor of
Samarqand that he should appoint a tribunal to judge and settle the
dispute between Qutaibah and the people of Samarqand. If the judgement of
the tribunal goes against the army chief and his men are asked to vacate
they must do so at once. The governor appointed Jami` ibn Hadhir Albaji as
judge for inquiry. After the inquiry was over, he, though himself a
Muslim, passed the judgement that the Muslim army must vacate the town. He
also remarked that the commander of the Muslim forces ought to have served
an ultimatum of war to the city, and according to the Islamic Law relating
to war, he ought to have cancelled all the treaties with them so that the
people of Samarqand could get time to prepare for the war. “Sudden attack on them without warning was unlawful.”
When the people of Samarqand witnessed the state of affairs, they were
convinced that this was an unparalleled case in the history of
mankind
the state keeping its Commander-in-Chief and the armies
under such strict discipline and control, bound by lofty moral principles.
And consequently they decided that fighting against such a people would be
futile. Rather, they came to regard it as mercy and a blessing from God.
Therefore they agreed to live with the Islamic army in Samarqand.
Just imagine. An army conquers a city and enters it. The inhabitants of
that city complain to the victorious government and the judges of that
government decide the case against the victorious army, and order the
deportation, saying that they could not live there without the consent of
the people of that city. Can either the ancient or modern history of
mankind point out any war in which the fighting men kept themselves so
strictly bound by the moral code, and followed such lofty principles of
truth and justice, as demonstrated by the sons of our civilization? In so
far as my own knowledge is concerned, not one among the nations of the
world can be pointed out which demonstrated such lofty morals.
of the Islamic Civilization © 1983, 1990 Hindustan Publications.
Taken from www.islaam.com
