سورة البقرة

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): If it were not for retaliation, some of you would kill one another.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Imam Ali (peace be upon him) that he said: "I said four things which Allah the Exalted confirmed the truthfulness of in His Book (the Great Qur'an)" ... I said: "Killing [rightly and justly] reduces killing [wrongly and unjustly]." So Allah sent down this expression: وَ لَکُمْ فِی الْقِصاصِ حَیاةٌ [And there is life for you in retaliation].

Imam al-Sajjad (peace be upon him): That is, O nation of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! For you there is life in retaliation. If someone intends to kill another and [at the same time] knows that he will be subjected to retaliation, he will not do it. So retaliation here causes both the one who would have been killed and the would-be killer to remain alive. Therefore, whenever they know that retaliation exists, they will not dare to kill, because they fear that they too will be killed.

Imam al-Sajjad (peace be upon him) [addressing the people, said]: "O servants of Allah! This retaliation is for one who has killed a person in this world and taken his life. Shall I not inform you of something greater than this killing, [such that] the retaliation which Allah exacts from [the one who commits] it is far greater than this retaliation?" They said: "Tell us, O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)!" He said: "Greater than this killing is a killing that cannot be made good and after which the slain one never comes back to life [even in the hereafter]." They said: "What is that deed?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "Greater than the killing of a human being is that [someone] turns him away from the nation of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and the wilayah of Ali (peace be upon him), and shows him a path other than the path of Allah, and urges him to continue on the path of the enemies of Ali (peace be upon him), and guides him to [belief in] their imamate — those who drove Ali (peace be upon him) away from his station and trampled upon his right, and do not care to give him the honouring that is his right. This is the killing that consigns the slain to hell eternally, and the recompense of this killing is everlasting abiding in the Fire."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Command and prohibition [in reality] are a single form; there is no command that does not have a prohibition after it, and there is no prohibition that is not accompanied by a command. Allah the Exalted said: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّهِ وَ لِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ [O you who believe! Respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life]. Allah has informed [us] that the servants do not come alive except through the command and prohibition of Allah. Just as the word of the Lord: وَ لَكُمْ فِي الْقِصَاصِ حَيَاةٌ يَا أُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ [And there is life for you in retaliation, O men of understanding].

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): The sword splits open and religion binds together; so religion commands what is good and the sword forbids what is evil. [For] Allah has said: وَ لَكُمْ فِي الْقِصَاصِ حَيَاةٌ [And there is life for you in retaliation].

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Allah made obligatory ... retaliation, so that blood may not be shed.

Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him): يا أُولِی الْأَلْبابِ [O men of understanding] means the possessors of wisdom and intellect.