سورة النساء

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): When this verse was revealed, Usama swore that he would not kill anyone who had said لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ [There is no god but Allah], and using this very oath as his excuse, he made excuses to Ali (peace be upon him) and refused to accompany him in battle. However, his excuse is not acceptable, because there is a firm proof for the obligation of obeying the Imam in fighting the rebels.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): The repentance of one who kills a believer is not accepted, unless he was in a state of shirk (polytheism) [when he killed him] and then embraced Islam and repented.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abd al-Azim ibn Abdullah al-Hasani narrates from Imam Jawad (peace be upon him), from his forefathers: Amr ibn Ubayd came to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), and when he had greeted him and sat down, ... he said: 'I would like to know the major sins from the Book of Allah the Mighty and Majestic.' The Imam said: 'Yes, O Amr, the greatest of the major sins is associating partners with Allah the Mighty and Majestic... Another major sin is killing a person, for Allah has made the abode of the killer to be hellfire, unless the killing is by right, for Allah the Exalted says: فَجَزاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خالِداً فِیها [his punishment is hell; he shall abide in it].'

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The major sins are seven; they were revealed from Allah concerning us, and all of them were committed against us. The first is associating partners with the Great Allah; then killing one whom Allah has forbidden [to be killed], consuming the property of the orphan, hurting one's parents, accusing chaste women, fleeing from the battlefield, and denying the right of the [Prophet's] household. As for associating partners with Allah — Allah revealed concerning us what needed to be revealed, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) gave the necessary reminders concerning us, yet these people rejected Allah and treated the sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) as lies, and thus became polytheists. As for killing a soul which Allah had forbidden — they killed Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon him) along with his companions. As for consuming the property of the orphan — they took from us the share of khums which Allah had appointed for us, and handed it over to others. As for hurting one's parents — Allah said in His Quran: النَّبِیُّ أَوْلی بِالْمُؤْمِنِینَ مِنْ أَنْفُسِهِمْ وَ أَزْواجُهُ أُمَّهاتُهُمْ [The Prophet has more claim over the believers than they have over themselves, and his wives are their mothers] (al-Ahzab/6). With this being so, the people became disobedient to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) regarding the children of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and disobeyed their mother Khadija (peace be upon her) regarding her children. As for accusing chaste women — they reviled Fatima (peace be upon her) upon their pulpits. As for fleeing from the battlefield — they pledged allegiance to Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) with full willingness and without any compulsion, then scattered from around him and abandoned him in humiliation. As for denying our right — they themselves confess and there is no dispute among them that they denied our right.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Killing a soul is among the major sins, because Allah says: وَ مَنْ یَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِناً مُتَعَمِّداً فَجَزاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خالِداً فِیها وَ غَضِبَ اللهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ لَعَنَهُ وَ أَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذاباً عَظِیماً [And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is hell; he shall abide in it, and Allah will send His wrath on him and curse him and prepare for him a painful chastisement].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu al-Safatij narrates: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said concerning: وَ مَن یَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا مُّتَعمِّدًا فَجَزَآؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ [And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is hell]: 'If He punishes him, his punishment is hell.'

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): Concerning His words فَجَزَآؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ [his punishment is hell], he said: 'Hell is his recompense; but if Allah wills, He punishes him with this recompense, and if He wills, He forgives him.'

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Samaʿa narrates: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the word of Allah: وَ مَنْ يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِناً مُتَعَمِّداً فَجَزاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خالِداً فيها وَ غَضِبَ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ لَعَنَهُ وَ أَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذاباً عَظيماً [And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is hell; he shall abide in it, and Allah will send His wrath on him and curse him and prepare for him a painful chastisement]. He said: 'The one who kills a believer who is of his own faith — that is the intentional [killer] of whom Allah the Mighty and Majestic says in His book: وَ أَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذاباً عَظِیماً [and prepare for him a painful chastisement].' I said: 'Do you mean a man between whom and another man some incident occurs, and he strikes him with his sword and kills him?' He said: 'No, that is not the intentional [killer] of whom Allah the Mighty and Majestic speaks.'

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The expiation for the blood of a believer whom someone has killed intentionally is that he place himself at the disposal of the victim's guardian, so that he may discharge the right that lies upon him — provided he is remorseful for what he has done and resolved not to repeat it. If they pardon him, he must free a slave, fast for two consecutive months, and feed sixty poor persons, and be remorseful for what he has done and resolve not to repeat it, and seek Allah's forgiveness forever, as long as he lives. If he kills someone by mistake, he must pay the blood-money to the guardians of the slain, then free a slave; and if he has no means to free a slave, he must fast for two consecutive months; and if he cannot, he must give one mudd of food to each of sixty poor persons. And if the blood-money of the slain is remitted to him, the expiation that he must perform for the pleasure of Allah [fasting two months and feeding sixty poor persons] still remains upon him.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): In a long narration concerning the story of the people of Nahrawan (the Kharijites) it is reported. Ali (peace be upon him) said to them: "Tell me what has made you count me among those you reject." They said: "In the battle of Siffin you ruled with a judgement contrary to your judgement in the battle of Jamal!" Ali (peace be upon him) said: "My judgement in the battle of Jamal, which was contrary to my judgement in the battle of Siffin, was for this reason: they gave me their allegiance, then they broke that allegiance and went out from the sanctuary of Allah (Mecca) and the sanctuary of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) (Medina) and came to Basra, while they had no rightful leader and no battle had taken place for which they had gathered. And they took Aisha, the wife of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), out of her house with them because of her aversion to giving allegiance to me... Talha and Zubayr set out with the intention of Hajj, but by Allah they intended neither Hajj nor Umrah; rather their route was from Mecca to Basra and their intention was to ignite the fire of a war in which Talha, Zubayr and twenty-five thousand Muslims were killed. You know that Allah has said: وَ مَنْ یَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِناً مُتَعَمِّداً فَجَزاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خالِداً فِیها [And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is hell; he shall abide in it]. When I gained victory over them, I said these very things to you, because no battlefield had arisen for which they had assembled and they had no leader to tend their wounded. Even so, they returned again to fight you, and for this reason I made war against them lawful for you."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Hisham ibn Salim narrates: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "As long as a believer's hand and skirt have not been stained by the shedding of unlawful blood, he is in spaciousness and ease in his religion." And he said: "The one who kills a believer intentionally will not be granted the success of repentance."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Zurarah narrated that Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: Unintentional error means that you intend the act but do not wish it to lead to killing, and its expiation is not retaliation in kind (qisas); and the error in which there is no doubt that it was an error is where you intend something else, but it strikes him.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Every killing in which the killing was intended carries retaliation (qisas), but the killing of error is that you intended [to kill] something with an instrument, yet another thing is destroyed by it.

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ مَنْ یَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِناً مُتَعَمِّداً فَجَزاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خالِداً فِیها وَ غَضِبَ اللهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ لَعَنَهُ وَ أَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذاباً عَظِیماً [And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is Hell; he shall abide in it, and Allah's wrath is upon him and He has cursed him and prepared for him a great chastisement]. He said: "Whoever kills a believer who shares his religion, his repentance is not accepted, and whoever kills a prophet or the successor of a prophet, his repentance is also not accepted, because in the case of retaliation (qisas) the killer is not the equal and peer of the slain. It may be that a polytheist, a Jew, or a Christian kills a Muslim because of his being a Muslim, and when he embraces Islam, Allah forgives his sin. For the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said in this regard: 'Islam covers whatever preceded it,' that is, it wipes it out; because the greatest of sins in the sight of Allah is associating partners with Allah (shirk), and when repentance from shirk is accepted, repentance from the sins before it is also accepted. But as for the saying of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): 'Whoever kills a prophet or the successor of a prophet, his repentance is not accepted' — this is because no one other than the prophets and the successors (is the peer of prophets and successors, and prophets and successors do not kill one another; and no one other than a prophet or a successor is like a prophet or a successor so as to be subject to qisas and be their equal, and the killer of them is not granted the success of repentance)."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abdullah ibn Sinan narrated that he asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about a believer who intentionally kills a believer — does he have repentance? He said: "If he killed him because of his faith, he has no repentance; but if he killed him out of anger or on account of some other worldly reason, his repentance is that he be subjected to qisas. And if no one is aware of the matter, he should go to the guardians of the slain and confess to them the killing, and if they pardon him and do not kill him, he should give them the blood-money (diyah), free a slave, fast two consecutive months, and feed sixty poor people, as repentance to Allah the Mighty and Majestic."

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ مَنْ یَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِناً مُتَعَمِّداً فَجَزاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خالِداً فِیها وَ غَضِبَ اللهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ لَعَنَهُ وَ أَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذاباً عَظِیماً [And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is Hell; he shall abide in it, and Allah's wrath is upon him and He has cursed him and prepared for him a great chastisement]; whoever kills a believer because of his faith, his repentance is not accepted, and the repentance of the killer of a prophet or a successor is not accepted, because no one is the peer of them so as to be subjected to qisas in return for them. But sometimes it may be that one from among the polytheists, or the Jews, or the Christians kills a Muslim [because of his Islam], but later becomes a Muslim, in which case Allah wipes that sin away from him."