Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:178
O you who have believed, prescribed for you is legal retribution for those murdered - the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female. But whoever overlooks from his brother anything, then there should be a suitable follow-up and payment to him with good conduct. This is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy. But whoever transgresses after that will have a painful punishment.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Surah Al-Baqarah (2:178)
يا أيها الذين آمنوا كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى (O you who believe, retaliation (qiṣāṣ) for the slain is prescribed for you: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female...)
The exposition of the interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: يا أيها الذين آمنوا كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى بالأنثى (O you who believe, retaliation (qiṣāṣ) for the slain is prescribed for you: the free for the free, the slave (ʿabd) for the slave, and the female for the female). The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, means by His words: كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى (retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you): it is made obligatory upon you.
If someone were to say: "Is the next of kin (walī) of the slain person obliged to exact retaliation upon the killer of his kinsman?" — then the answer is: no; but it is permitted to him to do that, or to pardon, or to accept the blood money (diya).
If someone were to say: "And how then could He say: كتب عليكم القصاص (retaliation is prescribed for you)?" — then the answer is: its meaning is other than what you incline toward. Rather, the meaning is: O you who believe, retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you, the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female. That is to say: when a free person kills a free person, then the blood of the killer is an equivalent (kufʾ) for the blood of the slain, and the retaliation strikes him and no one else of the people. So do not transgress with the killing toward another who did not kill, for it is forbidden to you to kill, for your slain one, anyone other than his killer.
The obligation that Allah has laid upon us in retaliation is what I have described: the abandoning of transgressing with the retaliation — the killing of the killer for his slain one — toward another. It is not the case that retaliation is imposed upon us as an unavoidable obligation, like the obligation of the ritual prayer (ṣalāh) and fasting (ṣawm), such that it would not be permitted to us to abandon it. For if this were an obligation that we were not allowed to leave, then His saying: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء (but whoever is pardoned something by his brother) would have no comprehensible meaning, because after retaliation there is no pardon left about which it could be said: "but whoever is pardoned something by his brother."
It has also been said: the meaning of qiṣāṣ in this verse is the mutual offsetting (muqāṣṣa) of the blood money of some of the slain against the blood money of others. That is because this verse, according to them, was revealed concerning two parties who fought one another in the time of the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings be upon him, in which the one killed the other. The Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him, then commanded that peace be made between them, by offsetting the blood money of the women of the one party against the blood money of the women of the other, the blood money of their men against the blood money of their men, and the blood money of their slaves against the blood money of their slaves, by way of reckoning (qiṣāṣ). That, according to them, is the meaning of qiṣāṣ in this verse.
If someone were to say: "The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, has indeed said: كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى بالأنثى (retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female). May we then, for the free person, take retaliation only from a free person, and for the woman only from a woman?" — then the answer is: no, rather we may take retaliation for the free person from the slave, and for the woman from the man, on the basis of the saying of Allah, the Exalted: ومن قتل مظلوما فقد جعلنا لوليه سلطانا (And whoever is killed unjustly, We have given his next of kin authority) (17:33), and on the basis of the widely transmitted report from the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings be upon him, that he said: "The Muslims, their blood is of equal worth (tatakāfaʾ)."
If he says: "If that is so, then what is the import of the interpretation of this verse?" — then the answer is: the people of interpretation have differed about this. Some of them said: this verse was revealed concerning a people who, when a man of theirs killed a slave of another people, were not content with the blood of the killer for their slain one — because it was merely a slave — until they killed for him his master; and when a woman of another people killed a man of theirs, they were not content, for the blood of their kinsman, with the female killer, until they killed a man from the tribe and lineage of the woman. Then Allah revealed this verse and made clear to them that what He has prescribed for them in retaliation is that they kill, for the man, the man-killer and no one else, and for the woman the female killer and no other of the men, and for the slave the slave-killer and no other of the free. Thus He forbade them to transgress the killer toward another in the retaliation.
Mention of who said that:
2108 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū al-Walīd related to us; and al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj related to us; both said: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, concerning His saying: الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى بالأنثى (the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female), he said: it was revealed concerning two tribes of the Arab tribes who fought one another in blind fighting (qitāl ʿimmiyya), and they said: "We kill, for our slave, so-and-so, son of so-and-so, and for that woman, so-and-so, son of so-and-so." Then Allah revealed: الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى بالأنثى (the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female).
2109 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى بالأنثى (retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female), he said: the people of the pre-Islamic time (Jāhiliyya) knew injustice and obedience to the devil. When a tribe was numerous and mighty, and a slave of another people killed a slave of theirs, they would say: "We kill for him only a free person," out of arrogance over their superiority above others in their own eyes. And when a woman of theirs was killed and a woman of another people had killed her, they would say: "We kill for her only a man." Then Allah revealed this verse and informed them that the slave is for the slave and the woman is for the woman, and thus He forbade them the injustice. Then Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, revealed in Surah al-Māʾida after that, and said: وكتبنا عليهم فيها أن النفس بالنفس والعين بالعين والأنف بالأنف والأذن بالأذن والسن بالسن والجروح قصاص (And We prescribed for them therein that a life is for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, and that for wounds there is retaliation) (5:45).
* — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى (retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you), he said: for those before us there was no blood money; it was only killing or pardoning to his family. This verse was revealed concerning a people who were more numerous than others; when a slave of the numerous tribe was killed, they would say: "We kill for him only a free person," and when a woman of theirs was killed, they would say: "We kill for her only a man." Then Allah revealed: الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى بالأنثى (the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female).
2110 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, saying: I heard Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿĀmir, concerning this verse: كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى بالأنثى (retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female), he said: that applies only in blind fighting (qitāl ʿimmiyya): when of these a slave is killed and of those a slave, then they are equal to one another; and likewise with two women, and likewise with two free persons. This is its meaning, if Allah wills.
2111 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: under the saying of Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is exalted: الحر بالحر (the free for the free) there also falls: the man for the woman, and the woman for the man. And ʿAṭāʾ said: there is no distinction between the two of them.
And others said: no, this verse was revealed concerning two groups between whom there was fighting in the time of the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings be upon him, in which a number of men and women were killed from both groups. The Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him, commanded that peace be made between them, by setting the blood money of the women of each of the two groups as a reckoning against the blood money of the women of the other group, the blood money of the men against the men, and the blood money of the slaves against the slaves. That is the meaning of His saying: كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى (retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you).
Mention of who said that:
2112 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His saying: كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى بالأنثى (retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female), he said: the people of two communities among the Arabs — the one Muslim and the other a covenanted party (muʿāhad) — fought one another in one of the matters that are wont to occur among the Arabs. The Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him, made peace between them; they had killed the free, the slaves, and the women, on condition that the free pays the blood money of the free, the slave the blood money of the slave, and the woman the blood money of the woman. Thus he offset them against one another.
2113 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik, he said: there was fighting between two tribes of the Helpers (Anṣār); the one had power over the other, and it was as if they were seeking precedence. Then the Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him, came to make peace between them, and this verse was revealed: الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى بالأنثى (the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female). The Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him, then set the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the woman for the woman.
2114 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Abū Bishr, he said: I heard al-Shaʿbī say concerning this verse: كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى (retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you), he said: it was revealed concerning blind fighting (qitāl ʿimmiyya) — Shuʿba said: it was as if it occurred at a reconciliation — he said: they reconciled on this basis.
* — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, he said: I heard al-Shaʿbī say concerning this verse: كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى بالأنثى (retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female), he said: it was revealed concerning blind fighting; he said: that was in the time of the Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him.
And others said: no, that is rather a command from Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, to offset against one another the blood money of the free, the blood money of the slave, the blood money of the man, and the blood money of the woman in intentional killing — if retaliation is taken for the slain from the killer — with mutual reckoning of the difference and the surplus between the two blood monies of the slain and the one upon whom retaliation is exacted.
Mention of who said that:
2115 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His saying: يا أيها الذين آمنوا كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى بالأنثى (O you who believe, retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female), he said: it has been related to us on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib that he used to say: whatever free person kills a slave, he is subject to retaliation (qawad) for that; if the masters of the slave wish to kill the free person, they kill him, and they reckon with them the price of the slave from the blood money of the free person, and they pay to the next of kin of the free person the remainder of his blood money. And if a slave kills a free person, he is subject to retaliation for that; if the next of kin of the free person wish, they kill the slave and reckon with them the price of the slave and take the remainder of the blood money of the free person; and if they wish, they take the full blood money and let the slave live. And whatever free person kills a woman, he is subject to retaliation for that; if the next of kin of the woman wish, they kill him and pay half of the blood money to the next of kin of the free man. And if a woman kills a free person, she is subject to retaliation for that; if the next of kin of the free person wish, they kill her and take half of the blood money; and if they wish, they take the full blood money and let her live; and if they wish, they pardon.
2116 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Salama related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, that ʿAlī said concerning a man who had killed his wife: if they wish, they kill him and pay half of the blood money.
2117 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, both said: the man is not killed for the woman until they give half of the blood money.
2118 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, he said concerning a man who had intentionally killed his wife: he was brought to ʿAlī, and he said: if you wish, kill him and return the surplus of the blood money of the man over the blood money of the woman.
And others said: no, this verse was revealed in a time in which the people did not kill the man for the woman, but they killed the man for the man and the woman for the woman, until Allah equalized the ruling over them all with His saying: وكتبنا عليهم فيها أن النفس بالنفس (And We prescribed for them therein that a life is for a life) (5:45), by which He subjected them all mutually to retaliation for one another.
Mention of who said that:
2119 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: والأنثى بالأنثى (and the female for the female): that is because they did not kill the man for the woman, but the man for the man and the woman for the woman. Then Allah, the Exalted, revealed: النفس بالنفس (a life for a life), and thus He equalized the free among one another in retaliation in cases of intent — their men and their women — with respect to life and with respect to what is less than life; and He equalized the slaves among one another in cases of intent with respect to life and with respect to what is less than life — their men and their women.
Now that the difference of opinion has appeared as I have described concerning that about which this verse was revealed, it is our duty to apply it to the ruling that it indicates, on the basis of the report that cuts off any excuse. And the reports of the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings be upon him, mutually reinforce one another through general transmission, that the life of the free man is offset by way of retaliation (qawad) against the life of the free woman. Now that this is so, and the community (Umma) is divided over the mutual reckoning of the difference between the blood money of the man and that of the woman — as we have set out by way of the saying of ʿAlī and others — and now that the untenability is clear of the saying of whoever advocates therein retaliation plus mutual reckoning of the difference between the two blood monies, because of the agreement (ijmāʿ) of all Muslims that it is forbidden for a man to destroy a limb of his body for a compensation that he accepts for that destruction — let alone his entire body — and that it is forbidden for another to destroy any of that in the manner that is forbidden, for a compensation that he gives for it: therefore it is obligatory that the life of the free man serve as retaliation for the life of the free woman.
Now that this is so, it is thereby clear that by the saying of the Exalted, whose mention is exalted: الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى بالأنثى (the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female) it is not meant that the slave is not subjected to retaliation for the free person, and that the woman is not killed for the man, nor the man for the woman. Now that this is so, it is clear that by the verse one of the two other meanings is intended: either our saying, namely that the retaliation is not transgressed toward anyone other than the killer and the perpetrator, so that for the woman the man is taken and for the slave the free person; or the other saying, namely that the verse was revealed concerning a particular, specific people, whom the Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him, commanded to set the blood monies of their slain ones mutually as a reckoning against one another, as al-Suddī and the rest whose saying we have mentioned said.
But all are agreed without exception, without any difference among them, that the mutual reckoning (muqāṣṣa) in rights is not obligatory, and they are agreed that Allah has pronounced no ruling therein that He then abrogated. Now that this is so, and now that the saying of the Exalted, whose mention is exalted: كتب عليكم القصاص (retaliation is prescribed for you) indicates that it is an obligation, it is known that the correct view conflicts with what the adherent of that saying has asserted. For that which rests as an obligation upon the rights-holders to do, in it they have no choice, whereas all are agreed that the rights-holders have the choice in mutually reckoning their rights against one another. So when the untenability of this view that we have mentioned has become clear, then the correct saying about this is the one that we have voiced.
If someone were to say to us — now that you have mentioned that the meaning of His saying: كتب عليكم القصاص (retaliation is prescribed for you) is: retaliation is imposed upon you as an obligation — : "one knows for the saying of someone who says 'kataba' no meaning other than that he wrote it, thus traced a writing and a written thing; what then is your proof that the meaning of His saying 'kataba' is 'to make obligatory'?" — then the answer is: that occurs in the language of the Arabs and is widespread in their poetry. Among that is the saying of the poet:
"Killing and fighting have been prescribed for us (kutiba), and for the honorable women the trailing of the hems."
And the saying of Nābigha of Banū Jaʿda:
"O daughter of my uncle, the decree (kitāb) of Allah has removed me from you all; can I then prevent Allah from what He has done?"
And that occurs in their poetry and their speech more often than can be counted. But although it has the meaning of "to make obligatory," it is in my view derived from the "kitāb" which is a tracing and a writing; for Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, has already written everything He has imposed upon His servants and everything they will perform in the Well-Preserved Tablet (al-Lawḥ al-Maḥfūẓ). Thus the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, said in the Qurʾān: بل هو قرآن مجيد في لوح محفوظ (Nay, it is a glorious Qurʾān, in a well-preserved tablet) (85:21-22), and He said: إنه لقرآن كريم في كتاب مكنون (Indeed, it is a noble Qurʾān, in a well-guarded book) (56:77-78). Thereby it has become clear that everything He has imposed upon us is written in the Well-Preserved Tablet. The meaning of the saying — now that this is so —: كتب عليكم القصاص (retaliation is prescribed for you) is therefore: in the Well-Preserved Tablet retaliation for the slain has been prescribed for you, as an obligation that you kill, for the slain one, no one other than his killer.
As for the word qiṣāṣ: it comes from the saying of one who says: "qāṣaṣtu fulānan ḥaqqī qibalahu min ḥaqqihi qibalī" (I reckoned with so-and-so my right against him against his right against me), qiṣāṣan wa-muqāṣṣatan. The killing of the killer for the one he killed is qiṣāṣ, because the same is done with him as what he did with the one he killed; and even if the one deed is unlawful transgression (ʿudwān) and the other lawful, they indeed differ in this respect, but they agree in the fact that each of them has done to his counterpart the same as what the counterpart did to him. The deed of the next of kin of the first slain — when he kills the killer of his kinsman — was called qiṣāṣ, because through his killing he obtained the right to kill the one who killed; it is as though his slain kinsman were the one who himself carried out the killing of his killer and took retaliation upon him.
As for the word al-qatlā (the slain): it is the plural of qatīl (slain one), as al-ṣarʿā is the plural of ṣarīʿ (the felled), and al-jarḥā of jarīḥ (the wounded). The pattern faʿīl is pluralized to faʿlā only when it is an attribute of the one described in the sense of incapacity and the injury that prevents its bearer from moving from his place and his fall, such as al-qatlā on their battlefields, al-ṣarʿā in their places, al-jarḥā, and what resembles that. The interpretation of the word is then: it is prescribed for you, O believers, retaliation for the slain, that the free is subjected to retaliation for the free, and the slave for the slave, and the woman for the woman. Then the mention of "is subjected to retaliation" was omitted, because the indication of His saying: كتب عليكم القصاص (retaliation is prescribed for you) sufficed.
Surah Al-Baqarah (2:178)
بالأنثى فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه (...for the female. But whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then let there be a fitting demand and a payment to him...)
The exposition of the interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه بإحسان (But whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then let there be a fitting demand and a payment to him in a good manner). The people of interpretation have differed over its interpretation. Some of them said: its interpretation is: whoever, of the killing — which was unlawful — is remitted something of the retaliation that was obligatory upon him for his brother — and that is the "something" about which Allah said: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع (whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then let there be a demand) — from the pardoner in favor of the killer, with the blood money due to him, and a payment of it by the one to whom that has been pardoned, to him in a good manner.
Mention of who said that:
2120 — Abū Kurayb and Aḥmad ibn Ḥammād al-Dūlābī related to us, he said: Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء (whoever is pardoned something by his brother): the pardon is that he accepts the blood money in the case of intent, and "a fitting demand" is that this one demands in a fitting manner and that one pays in a good manner.
* — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Salama related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Dīnār related to us, on the authority of Jābir ibn Zayd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he said concerning His saying: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه بإحسان (whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then let there be a fitting demand and a payment to him in a good manner), he said: it concerns the intent, in which his family is content with the blood money. واتباع بالمعروف (a fitting demand) is enjoined upon the claimant; وأداء إليه بإحسان (and a payment to him in a good manner) is from the one against whom the claim is made.
* — Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Sufyān related to us, saying: my father related to us; and al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us; both said: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Muslim, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: the one who accepts the blood money — that is from him a pardon and a fitting demand — and the one to whom his brother has pardoned pays to him in a good manner.
* — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه بإحسان (whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then let there be a fitting demand and a payment to him in a good manner): that is the blood money, which the claimant demands in a good manner; وأداء إليه بإحسان (and a payment to him in a good manner): that is that the one against whom the claim is made performs the payment in a good manner.
2121 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه بإحسان (whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then let there be a fitting demand and a payment to him in a good manner): and the pardon is that he refrains from the blood and accepts the blood money.
* — Sufyān related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء (whoever is pardoned something by his brother), he said: the blood money.
2122 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Yazīd, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: وأداء إليه بإحسان (and a payment to him in a good manner), he said: upon this claimant rests that he demands in a fitting manner, and upon this one against whom the claim is made rests that he pays in a good manner.
* — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع بالمعروف (whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then let there be a fitting demand): and the pardon is that one refrains from the blood and accepts the blood money.
2123 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū al-Walīd related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, concerning His saying: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه بإحسان (whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then let there be a fitting demand and a payment to him in a good manner), he said: it concerns the intent, in which his family is content with the blood money.
* — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, the same.
2124 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه بإحسان (whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then let there be a fitting demand and a payment to him in a good manner), he says: he was intentionally killed and it was pardoned to him and the blood money was accepted from him. He says: فاتباع بالمعروف (a fitting demand): the demander is enjoined to demand in a fitting manner, and the payer is enjoined to pay in a good manner. The intent leads to retaliation (qawad), to qiṣāṣ; for it there is no blood money unless they are content with the blood money. If they are content with the blood money, then it is one hundred pregnant she-camels; and if they say: "We are content only with such-and-such an amount," then that is permitted to them.
2125 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه بإحسان (then let there be a fitting demand and a payment to him in a good manner), he said: the claimant demands thereby in a fitting manner, and the one against whom the claim is made pays in a good manner.
2126 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His saying: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه بإحسان (whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then let there be a fitting demand and a payment to him in a good manner), he says: whoever was intentionally killed and it was pardoned to him and the blood money was taken from him, he says: فاتباع بالمعروف (a fitting demand): the possessor of the blood money that he takes is enjoined to demand in a fitting manner, and the payer is enjoined to pay in a good manner.
2127 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: I said to ʿAṭāʾ concerning His saying: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه بإحسان (whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then let there be a fitting demand and a payment to him in a good manner), he said: that is when he accepts the blood money; that is pardon.
2128 — Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza informed me, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: when he accepts the blood money, then he has refrained from the retaliation; that is His saying: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه بإحسان (whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then let there be a fitting demand and a payment to him in a good manner). Ibn Jurayj said: and al-Aʿraj informed me, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same, and he added: when he accepts the blood money, then upon him rests that he demands in a fitting manner, and upon the one to whom it has been pardoned rests that he pays in a good manner.
* — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Abū ʿAqīl related to us, saying: al-Ḥasan said: the acceptance of the blood money is a good pardon.
2129 — Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: وأداء إليه بإحسان (and a payment to him in a good manner), he said: you, O one to whom it has been pardoned.
* — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه بإحسان (whoever is pardoned something by his brother, then let there be a fitting demand and a payment to him in a good manner): that is the blood money, which the claimant does in a fitting manner, and "a payment to him in a good manner" is that the one against whom the claim is made performs the payment in a good manner.
And others said that the meaning of His saying: فمن عفي (but whoever is pardoned) is: whoever a surplus accrues to and with whom a remainder remains. And they said that the meaning of His saying: من أخيه شيء (from his brother something) is: from the blood money of his brother something, or from the indemnity (arsh) of his wound, then there is a demand by him upon the killer or the wounder with whom that has remained, in a fitting manner, and a payment by the killer or the wounder to him of what of that remained with him for him, in a good manner. This is the saying of whoever asserts that the verse — I mean His saying: يا أيها الذين آمنوا كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى (O you who believe, retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you) — was revealed concerning those who fought one another in the time of the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings be upon him, after which the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings be upon him, commanded that peace be made between them, so that the blood monies of the one were offset against those of the other and they returned to one another the surplus if something remained for them against the others. I suppose that the adherents of this saying directed the interpretation of the word "ʿafw" (pardon) in this place toward the meaning of "abundance," from the saying of Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is exalted: حتى عفوا (until they became abundant) (7:95); thus the meaning of the word according to them was: whoever much is due to him against his brother the killer.
Mention of who said that:
2130 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء (whoever is pardoned something by his brother), he says: there remained for him of the blood money of his brother something, or of the indemnity of his wound, so let him demand in a fitting manner and let the other pay to him in a good manner.
And the obligation, according to the interpretation that we have transmitted from ʿAlī and al-Ḥasan — concerning His saying: كتب عليكم القصاص (retaliation is prescribed for you), that it has the meaning of offsetting the blood money of the male life against the blood money of the female life, and of the slave against the free, with mutual reckoning of the difference between the two blood monies of their two lives — is that the meaning of His saying: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء (whoever is pardoned something by his brother) is: whoever is remitted that which was obligatory upon him as a duty for his brother of the retaliation of the blood money of the one against the blood money of the life of the other, up to being content with the blood money of the life of the slain — then there is a demand by the next of kin in a fitting manner, and a payment of it by the killer to him in a good manner.
The most preferable of the sayings about this is, in my view, concerning His saying: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء (whoever is pardoned something by his brother): whoever is remitted that which was obligatory upon him as a duty for his brother of retaliation, with respect to something of what is obligatory, for a blood money that he accepts from him — then there is a demand in a fitting manner by the one who refrains from the blood and is content with the blood money for the blood of his kinsman, and a payment of it by the killer to him in a good manner; because of the grounds that we have set out earlier, that the meaning of the saying of Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is exalted: كتب عليكم القصاص (retaliation is prescribed for you) is only the retaliation upon the lives that intentionally kill, wound, or injure the head, and so too applies the pardon thereof.
As for the meaning of His saying: فاتباع بالمعروف (then let there be a fitting demand): He means: there is a demand for what Allah has granted him as a right against the killer of his kinsman, without his being charged with more than what he is entitled to regarding the ages of the blood-money camels or anything else, and without burdening him with what Allah has not made obligatory for him. As:
2131 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: it reached us on the authority of the Prophet of Allah, may peace and blessings be upon him, that he said: "Whoever demands a camel more or gives a camel more" — he means with the blood-money camels and their prescribed numbers — "that is of the affair of the pre-Islamic time (Jāhiliyya)."
As for the acting in a good manner by the other in the payment: that is the paying of what was imposed upon him by his killing toward the next of kin of the slain, according to what Allah has imposed upon him and made obligatory, without withholding from him a right that he has against him thereby, or compelling him to dunning and demand.
If someone were to say to us: "How is it said: فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه بإحسان (then let there be a fitting demand and a payment to him in a good manner) in the nominative, and it is not said 'fa-ttibāʿan bil-maʿrūf wa-adāʾan ilayhi bi-iḥsān' (in the accusative), as He said: فإذا لقيتم الذين كفروا فضرب الرقاب (So when you meet those who disbelieve, then strike the necks) (47:4)?" — then the answer is: if the revelation had come in the accusative, namely "fa-ttibāʿan bil-maʿrūf wa-adāʾan ilayhi bi-iḥsān," then that would have been permissible and correct in Arabic, in the manner of the command, as one says: "ḍarban ḍarban" (strike, strike), and "when you meet so-and-so, then honoring and glorification." But it came in the nominative, and that is more eloquent in the language of the Arabs than its accusative; and likewise this applies to all that is comparable to it of that which is a general obligation, both for the one who has already acted and for the one who has not yet acted when he acts — not as a recommendation and exhortation. The nominative rests on the meaning: whoever is pardoned something by his brother, the matter therein is a fitting demand and a payment to him in a good manner; or: the ruling and the pronouncement therein is a fitting demand.
Some of the philologists have said: its nominative rests on the meaning: whoever is pardoned something by his brother, upon him rests a fitting demand. This is my view, while the first which we mentioned is the proper import of the word. And likewise applies to all that is comparable to it in the Qurʾān, that its nominative rests on the manner that we have mentioned; and that is like His saying: ومن قتله منكم متعمدا فجزاء مثل ما قتل من النعم (And whoever of you kills it intentionally, then there is a recompense of the like of what he killed in livestock) (5:95), and His saying: فإمساك بمعروف أو تسريح بإحسان (then a fitting retention or a release in a good manner) (2:229). As for His saying: فضرب الرقاب (then strike the necks), in it the accusative is the correct, and that is the proper import of the word, because it is in the manner of the exhortation of Allah, the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, to His servants to kill upon the encounter with the enemy, as one says: "When you meet the enemy, then takbīr and tahlīl," in the manner of the exhortation to the takbīr, not in the manner of obligating and imposing.
Surah Al-Baqarah (2:178)
بإحسان ذلك تخفيف من ربكم (...in a good manner. That is a lightening from your Lord...)
The exposition of the interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: ذلك تخفيف من ربكم ورحمة (That is a lightening from your Lord and a mercy). The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, means by His saying "that": this concerning which I have ruled and which I have prescribed for you, namely My permitting to you, O community, to refrain from retaliation upon the killer of your slain one for a blood money that you accept and that you take into ownership as you own the rest of your possessions — that which I had forbidden to the communities before you — تخفيف من ربكم (is a lightening from your Lord); He says: a lightening from Me for you of what I had made heavy for others by forbidding that to them, and a mercy from Me for you. As:
2132 — Abū Kurayb and Aḥmad ibn Ḥammād al-Dūlābī related to us, they said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: among the children of Israel there existed retaliation, but among them blood money did not exist. Allah then said in this verse: كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى الحر بالحر (retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you: the free for the free), up to His saying: فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء (whoever is pardoned something by his brother) — and the pardon is that he accepts the blood money in the case of intent — ذلك تخفيف من ربكم (that is a lightening from your Lord); He says: He has lightened for you of what rested upon those before you, that this one demands in a fitting manner and that one pays in a good manner.
2133 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq related to us, saying: my father related to us, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Muslim, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: those before you killed the killer for the slain, and the blood money was not accepted from them. Then Allah revealed: يا أيها الذين آمنوا كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى الحر بالحر (O you who believe, retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you: the free for the free), to the end of the verse; ذلك تخفيف من ربكم (that is a lightening from your Lord); He says: He has lightened for you, whereas upon those before you it rested that the blood money was not accepted; the one who accepts the blood money — that is from him a pardon.
2134 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Salama related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Dīnār informed us, on the authority of Jābir ibn Zayd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: ذلك تخفيف من ربكم ورحمة (that is a lightening from your Lord and a mercy) in relation to what rested upon the children of Israel, namely the prohibition of the blood money for them.
2135 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: upon the children of Israel rested retaliation in cases of killing; there was among them no blood money for a life, nor for a wound. That is the saying of Allah: وكتبنا عليهم فيها أن النفس بالنفس والعين بالعين (And We prescribed for them therein that a life is for a life, and an eye for an eye) — the whole verse. And Allah lightened for the community of Muḥammad, may peace and blessings be upon him, and accepted from them the blood money for the life and for the wound; that is His saying, the Exalted: ذلك تخفيف من ربكم (that is a lightening from your Lord) (2:178), among you.
2136 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: ذلك تخفيف من ربكم ورحمة (that is a lightening from your Lord and a mercy): it is only a mercy with which Allah has favored this community; He has given them the blood money as sustenance and permitted it to them, while it was not permitted to anyone before them. With the people of the Torah it was only retaliation or pardon, and between those two there was no indemnity (arsh). And with the people of the Gospel it was only pardon, which was enjoined upon them. So Allah appointed for this community retaliation, pardon, and blood money if they wish, and permitted it to them, while it existed for no community before them.
2137 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, with exactly the same, except that he said: between those two there was nothing.
2138 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى (retaliation for the slain is prescribed for you), he said: for those before us there was no blood money; it was only killing or pardoning to his family. This verse was revealed concerning a people who were more numerous than others.
2139 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: and ʿAmr ibn Dīnār informed me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: to the children of Israel retaliation was prescribed, and it was lightened for this community. And ʿAmr ibn Dīnār recited: ذلك تخفيف من ربكم ورحمة (that is a lightening from your Lord and a mercy).
As for the saying of whoever says: the meaning of qiṣāṣ in this verse is the offsetting of the blood monies against one another, as al-Suddī said — then its interpretation ought to be: this which I have done with you, O believers, namely the offsetting of the blood money of the slain of some of you against the blood money of others, and the abandoning of imposing retaliation upon the rest of you for the slain one whom he killed, and the taking of his blood money — is a lightening from Me for you of the heaviness of what rested upon you of My ruling over you concerning retaliation or blood money, and a mercy from Me for you.
Surah Al-Baqarah (2:178)
ورحمة فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك فله عذاب (...and a mercy. But whoever transgresses after that, for him is a punishment...)
The exposition of the interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك فله عذاب أليم (But whoever transgresses after that, for him is a painful punishment). The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, means by His saying: فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك (whoever transgresses after that): whoever transgresses what Allah has granted him, after he has accepted the blood money, by way of transgression (iʿtidāʾ) and injustice, toward what He has not appointed for him, namely the killing of the killer of his kinsman and the shedding of his blood — for him is, on account of that deed and his transgression toward what I have forbidden him, a painful punishment (ʿadhāb alīm). I have already set out the meaning of iʿtidāʾ (transgression) earlier in a manner that makes repetition unnecessary. And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
2140 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك (whoever transgresses after that): and kills, فله عذاب أليم (for him is a painful punishment).
* — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: whoever, after the acceptance of the blood money, transgresses, for him is a painful punishment.
2141 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك فله عذاب أليم (whoever transgresses after that, for him is a painful punishment), he says: whoever, after the acceptance of the blood money, transgresses and kills, for him is a painful punishment. He said: and it was related to us that the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings be upon him, used to say: "I grant no protection to a man who kills after the acceptance of the blood money."
* — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك (whoever transgresses after that), he said: that is the killing after the acceptance of the blood money; he says: whoever kills after he has accepted the blood money, upon him rests the killing, and the blood money is not accepted from him.
2142 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His saying: فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك فله عذاب أليم (whoever transgresses after that, for him is a painful punishment), he says: whoever, after the acceptance of the blood money, transgresses, for him is a painful punishment.
2143 — Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: when a man in the pre-Islamic time killed a slain person, he fled to his people; then his people would come and settle for him with the blood money. He said: then the fugitive would come forth, safe for his life. He said: then he would be killed and afterward the blood money would be thrown back at them; that is the transgression.
* — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Abū ʿAqīl related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḥasan concerning this verse: فمن عفي له من دم أخيه شيء (whoever is pardoned something of the blood of his brother), he said: the killer, when he is sought but cannot be caught, and from his next of kin the blood money has been accepted, and he is then safe and is seized and killed — al-Ḥasan said: that is swallowed-up injustice (ʿudwān).
2144 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Muslim related to us, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Hārūn ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I said to ʿIkrima: whoever kills after the acceptance of the blood money? He said: then he is killed. Have you not heard Allah say: فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك فله عذاب أليم (whoever transgresses after that, for him is a painful punishment)?
2145 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك (whoever transgresses after that): after he has accepted the blood money and then kills, فله عذاب أليم (for him is a painful punishment).
2146 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك (whoever transgresses after that), he says: whoever, after the acceptance of the blood money, transgresses, فله عذاب أليم (for him is a painful punishment).
2147 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك فله عذاب أليم (whoever transgresses after that, for him is a painful punishment), he said: he accepts the blood money (ʿaql) and then kills, after the acceptance of the blood money, the killer of his slain one; for him is a painful punishment.
And they differed concerning the meaning of the painful punishment that Allah has appointed for whoever transgresses after the acceptance of the blood money of the killer of his kinsman. Some of them said: that punishment is the killing of him as retaliation for the one he killed after the acceptance of the blood money from him and his refraining from retaliation upon him for the blood of his kinsman.
Mention of who said that:
2148 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm al-Dawraqī related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His saying: فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك فله عذاب أليم (whoever transgresses after that, for him is a painful punishment), he said: he is killed, and that is the painful punishment; he says: the agonizing punishment.
2149 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to me, saying: Abū Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, that he said that.
2150 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Hārūn ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima: فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك فله عذاب أليم (whoever transgresses after that, for him is a painful punishment), he said: the killing.
And some of them said: that punishment is a chastisement with which the ruler (sulṭān) punishes him, according to the measure of what he deems fitting of chastisement.
Mention of who said that:
2151 — Al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥasan related to me, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: Ismāʿīl ibn Umayya informed me, on the authority of al-Layth — except that he did not place him in the genealogy, and he said: trustworthy — that the Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him, established by an oath or otherwise that no protection is granted to a man who refrains from the blood and accepts the blood money and then transgresses and kills. Ibn Jurayj said: and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz informed me, he said: in a writing of ʿUmar, on the authority of the Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him, he said: "The transgression" that Allah has mentioned is that the man accepts the blood money, or takes retaliation, or that the ruler adjudicates concerning the wounds, and that then some of them transgress after he has fully obtained his right; whoever does that has transgressed, and the ruling over it lies with the ruler, according to what he deems fitting of punishment. He said: and even if he were to pardon him, it is not for any of the rights-holders to pardon, for this belongs to the matter about which Allah has revealed His saying: فإن تنازعتم في شيء فردوه إلى الله والرسول (And if you dispute about anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger) (4:59).
2152 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ziyād related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning a man who was killed and from whom the blood money was accepted, and then his next of kin killed the killer for him — al-Ḥasan said: from him the blood money that he has accepted is taken back, and he is not killed for him.
And the most preferable of the two interpretations of His saying: فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك فله عذاب أليم (whoever transgresses after that, for him is a painful punishment) is the interpretation of whoever said: whoever, after the acceptance of the blood money, transgresses and kills the killer of his kinsman, for him is a painful punishment in the present of this world, namely the killing; because Allah, the Exalted, has appointed for every next of kin of a slain person who was killed unjustly authority over the killer of his kinsman, for He, the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, said: ومن قتل مظلوما فقد جعلنا لوليه سلطانا فلا يسرف في القتل (And whoever is killed unjustly, We have given his next of kin authority, so let him not be excessive in killing) (17:33). Now that this is so, and now that all the people of knowledge are agreed that whoever kills the killer of his kinsman after having pardoned him and accepted the blood money of his slain one from him, by killing him acts unlawfully in his killing, it is clear that the next of kin of the one who was killed unjustly likewise has authority over him concerning retaliation, pardon, and the acceptance of the blood money — whatever he wishes. Now that this is so, it is known that that is his punishment, for whoever undergoes in this world his prescribed penalty (ḥadd), that is his punishment for his sin, and he is not pursued for it again in the Hereafter, in accordance with what is established in the report of the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings be upon him.
As for what Ibn Jurayj said, namely that the ruling over whoever kills the killer of his kinsman after having pardoned him and accepted the blood money of his slain kinsman from him, lies with the imam and not with the next of kin of the slain — that is a saying that conflicts with what the outward meaning of the Book of Allah indicates and over which the scholars of the community have reached agreement (ijmāʿ). That is because Allah has appointed for the next of kin of every unjustly slain person the authority and for no one else, without therein excepting the one slain over the other; it thus makes no difference whether that is the slain of the next of kin of the one who killed him, or another. And whoever excepts any of that, he is asked for the proof of it from a principle or an analogy, and the saying is turned back against him; and he will then make no pronouncement about any of it without being obligated in the other to the same pronouncement. Moreover, in the agreement of the authoritative proof (ḥujja) against what he said about this there is sufficient testimony to its untenability, alongside the rest.
