War Booty

When Western nations go to war, the dominant meme is one of "liberation"; as in, liberation from the tyranny of Saddam, the oppression of the Taliban or the genocidal campaigns of Serbs. Sure, the shock and awe of Western armies is awful, but after the main fighting is over, the torture chambers, rape rooms and pervasively grim experience of the downtrodden locals are supposed to disappear.

This may be a culturally-specific meme, though. It seems that when it comes to the other side doesn't even try to hide its baser motivations for driving conflict.

From a MEMRI transcript of a Pakistani TV show discussion on what happens when Islamist conquering forces "liberate" a country:

Mohammed Siddiqui: "If men and women are captured [in war] what should we do with them? They are prisoners, they cannot be exchanged; they cannot be returned; the other party is not ready to pay ransom for them; Muslims don't want to free them as a goodwill gesture... So what should they do in such a situation? In such a case, we have to keep them. How should we?

[Interruptions...]

"Suppose if a Muslim has already four wives, shall he be given a fifth wife by 'marrying' a slave woman? During the caliphate, jihad was continually waged and slaves were collected in a big number. Even if someone does not already have four wives... by giving a woman to him through marriage, do you want to create conflict in his home?"

Mubasher Lucman: "So should the concubine be kept by a man secretly? Won't it create the problem?"

[Interruptions...]

Mohammed Siddiqui: "And above all, Allah and Islam have allowed Nikah, devised its means... If these women [concubines] come as part of the war booty; the Koran is full [of discussions] about them. The Koran has permitted them. If you consider the Islamic government as a representative of Allah... if the government allows it, who you are to question it?

And this:

Mubasher Lucman: "What if we go to a war against Israel, can we take slaves and concubines as we don't have diplomatic relations with them...?"

"It is Permitted to [Take in War] Concubines [from Israel]"

Allama Zaheer: "Yes, we can. It is permitted to have concubines [from Israel]."

Mubasher Lucman: "What do you say Maulana Aslam Siddiqui? Did you listen to Maulana Ibtisam Zaheer?"

Mohammed Siddiqui: "No, I could not."

(Mubasher Lucman repeats the statement by Ibtisam Elahi)

Mohammed Siddiqui: "We do not have any accord with the countries with which we have no diplomatic relations..."

[Interruptions...]

Mubasher Lucman: "So, we can take [slaves] from Israel, if we achieve victory over Israel and get manpower?"

Mohammed Siddiqui: "Imagine! I am surprised how far-fetched you think..."

[Interruptions and laughter...]

Maulana Naeemi: "Islamic laws are very old and true. The law from the times of the caliphs is that you have to keep your promises. If you have an accord of prisoner exchange with a country, you have to give the war captives back to them."

Allama Zaheer [interrupts]: "You gave the example of Israel very positively. They are Jews. We could have married with their women in case of a victory, but we don't need that as we don't have diplomatic relations; so if we win and get slave women, and if the emir of the army distributes concubines, we can keep them as concubines if we get some of our share of war booty. And we should be thankful to Allah for that. But we cannot steal a woman from war booty..."