Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:93
But whoever kills a believer intentionally - his recompense is Hell, wherein he will abide eternally, and Allah has become angry with him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a great 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.
The statement concerning the explanation of His saying, exalted is He: وَمَنْ يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا مُتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَابًا عَظِيمًا (93) (And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell (jahannam), wherein he shall abide eternally; and Allah is wrathful against him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a tremendous punishment. (4:93))
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means thereby: and whoever kills a believer intentionally, with the deliberate intent to cause his death, while aiming at the destruction of his soul — "his recompense is Hell (jahannam)," that is to say: his reward for the fact that he killed him is "Hell (jahannam)," by which is meant the punishment of Hell — "wherein he shall abide eternally," that is to say: remaining therein. And the "hāʾ" and the "alif" in His word "therein" (fīhā) refer back to Hell (jahannam). "And Allah is wrathful against him," that is to say: and the wrath of Allah (ghaḍab Allah) befell him because he killed him intentionally. "And has cursed him," that is to say: and He removed him far from His mercy and humiliated him. "And has prepared for him a tremendous punishment (ʿadhāb)," and that is something whose magnitude and extent no one knows except Him, exalted is His mention.
* * *
The exegetes differed concerning the nature of the killing for which the perpetrator deserves to be called intentional (mutaʿammid), after they all unanimously agreed that, when a man strikes a man with the edge of an iron weapon that wounds with its sharpness, or that cuts and cleaves, and he did not cease striking him with it until he destroyed his soul, while during the striking he intended to strike him: that he then committed the killing intentionally. Then they differed about what lies beyond that. Some of them said: there is no intention except what is so, according to the description we have described.
* Mention of who said that:
10174 — Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, he said: Ibn Jurayj informed us, he said: ʿAṭāʾ said: "The intention" is the weapon — or he said: the iron. He said: And Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab said: it is the weapon.
10175 — Abū Kurayb and Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm both related to us, they said: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: The intention is what occurred with iron; and what occurred without iron, that is killing resembling intention (shibh al-ʿamd), in which there is no retaliation (qawad).
10176 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: The intention is what occurred with iron, and killing resembling intention is what occurred with a piece of wood. And killing resembling intention exists only in the killing of a human being.
10178 — Aḥmad ibn Ḥammād al-Dūlābī related to me, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, who said: Whoever is killed in a factional quarrel (ʿaṣabiyya), in a mutual pelting with stones, or in flogging with whips, or in striking with sticks, that is an error (khaṭaʾ), whose blood-money (diya) is the blood-money of an error. And whoever is killed intentionally, for that there is retaliation for what his hand has committed (qawad yadih).
10179 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr and Mughīra related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥārith and his companions, concerning the man who strikes a man so that he becomes ill until he dies. He said: I ask the witnesses whether he struck him and whether he did not cease being ill from his blow until he died; if it was with a weapon, then retaliation applies (qawad), and if it was with something else, then it is killing resembling intention.
* * *
Others said: everything in which the striker aims at the destruction of the soul of the one struck is intention, if that with which he struck commonly kills in most cases.
* Mention of who said that:
10180 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Hushaym related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yaḥyā informed us, on the authority of Ḥabbān ibn Abī Jabala, on the authority of ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, that he said: And what intention is more intentional than that someone strikes a man with a stick and then does not let up from him until he dies?
10181 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Hāshim, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: When he strangles him with a rope until he dies, or strikes him with a piece of wood until he dies, then retaliation applies (qawad).
* * *
And the proof of him who said: "everything except iron is an error," is that which:
10182 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Abū ʿĀzib, on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr, who said: The Prophet ﷺ said: Everything is an error except the sword, and for every error there is a compensation (arsh).
* * *
And the proof of him who said: "the ruling concerning everything with which the one struck is killed is equal to the ruling concerning the sword, in that whoever kills with it is a perpetrator of intentional killing," is that which:
10183 — Ibn Bashshār related it to us, he said: Abū al-Walīd related to us, he said: Hammām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik: that a Jew killed a girl for some silver ornaments of hers, between two stones, whereupon he was brought before the Prophet ﷺ, and he killed him between two stones.
* * *
They said: The Prophet ﷺ thus applied retaliation to one who killed with a stone, and that is not iron. They said: And likewise is the ruling concerning everyone who kills a man with something that commonly kills in most cases — comparable to that with which the killing was done — by analogy with the ruling concerning the Jew who killed the girl between the two stones.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct statement concerning that, in our view, is the statement of him who said: everyone who strikes a human being with something that commonly destroys in most cases, and who does not let up from him until he destroys his soul thereby, is a perpetrator of intentional killing, regardless of what the one struck was struck with — because of the report we have mentioned on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
* * *
As for His word: "his recompense is Hell (jahannam), wherein he shall abide eternally" — the exegetes differed concerning its meaning. Some of them said, the meaning is: his recompense is Hell, if He recompenses him.
* Mention of who said that:
10184 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz, concerning His word: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell," he said: that is his recompense, but if He wills He pardons him.
10185 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Abū al-Nuʿmān al-Ḥakam ibn ʿAbd Allāh related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Yasār, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell," he said: his recompense is Hell, if He recompenses him.
* * *
Others said: thereby a particular man was meant, who had accepted Islam and then became an apostate (murtadd) from his Islam, and killed a believing man. They said: the meaning of the verse is thus: and whoever kills a believer intentionally while deeming his killing permissible, his recompense is Hell, wherein he shall abide eternally.
* Mention of who said that:
10186 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿIkrima: that a man of the Anṣār killed the brother of Miqyas ibn Ṣubāba, whereupon the Prophet ﷺ gave him the blood-money (diya) and he accepted it, and afterward he fell upon the killer of his brother and killed him. Ibn Jurayj said: And another said: The Prophet ﷺ imposed his blood-money upon the Banū al-Najjār, then sent Miqyas out, and sent with him a man of the Banū Fihr for a need of the Prophet ﷺ. Then Miqyas overpowered the Fihrī — and he was of powerful build — struck him to the ground, and crushed his head between two stones, and was then found while singing:
"I have taken vengeance with him upon Fihr, and his blood-money I have laid upon the nobles of the Banū al-Najjār, the lords of Fāriʿ."
Then the Prophet ﷺ said: I suspect he has committed something grave! By Allah, if he has done it, then I will grant him no safe-conduct, neither in sacred nor in profane territory, neither in peace nor in war! And he was killed on the Day of the Conquest (of Mecca). Ibn Jurayj said: And concerning this was revealed this verse: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally," the verse.
* * *
Others said: the meaning of that is: except whoever repents.
* Mention of who said that:
10187 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, he said: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr related to me — or: al-Ḥakam related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr — he said: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about His word: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell," whereupon he said: When the man knows Islam and the laws of Islam, and then kills a believer intentionally, then his recompense is Hell, and there is no repentance (tawba) for him. Then I mentioned that to Mujāhid, whereupon he said: except whoever feels remorse.
* * *
Others said: that is an imposition from Allah of the threat against the killer of a believer intentionally, whoever the killer may be, in accordance with what He described in His Book, and He has not granted him any repentance for his deed. They said: thus every killer of a believer intentionally has that which Allah has announced to him of punishment and eternal abiding in the Fire (al-nār), and there is no repentance for him. And they said: this verse was revealed after the verse in "Sūrat al-Furqān."
* Mention of who said that:
10188 — Ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Wakīʿ both related to us, they said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Yaḥyā al-Jābir, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, who said: We were with Ibn ʿAbbās after his eyesight had been lost, when a man came to him and called out to him: O ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, what is your ruling concerning a man who has killed a believer intentionally? He said: "His recompense is Hell, wherein he shall abide eternally, and Allah is wrathful against him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a tremendous punishment." He said: And what do you think if he repents and believes and performs righteous deeds and then is rightly guided? Ibn ʿAbbās said: May his mother lose him! How could he attain repentance and guidance? By Him in whose hand my soul lies, I heard your Prophet ﷺ say: May his mother lose him! A man who has killed a man intentionally comes on the Day of Resurrection holding him (the slain) with his right hand or his left hand, with the veins of his neck gushing with blood, before the Throne of the Most Merciful, and he holds his killer with his other hand, saying: Ask this one why he killed me! And by Him in whose hand the soul of ʿAbd Allāh (Ibn ʿAbbās) lies: this verse was revealed, and no other verse abrogated it until your Prophet ﷺ was taken (in death), and after him no (further) proof was revealed.
10189 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Abū Khālid related to us: on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Qays, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taymī, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, wherein he shall abide eternally, and Allah is wrathful against him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a tremendous punishment." Then it was said to him: And even though he repents and believes and performs righteous deeds? Whereupon he said: And how could he attain repentance!
10190 — Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Mūsā ibn Dāwūd related to us, he said: Hammām related to us, on the authority of Yaḥyā, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Sālim, who said: I was sitting with Ibn ʿAbbās, when a man asked him and said: What is your ruling concerning a man who has killed a believer intentionally, where is his abode? He said: "Hell, wherein he shall abide eternally, and Allah is wrathful against him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a tremendous punishment." He said: And what do you think if he repents and believes and performs righteous deeds and then is rightly guided? He said: And how could he attain guidance, may his mother lose him? By Him in whose hand my soul lies, I heard him — that is the Prophet ﷺ — say: He comes on the Day of Resurrection with his head hanging from one of his hands, whether his right or his left hand, while he holds his companion (the killer) with his other hand, with the veins of his neck gushing with blood opposite the Throne of the Most Merciful, saying: O Lord, ask this servant of Yours why he killed me? For after your Prophet no prophet came, and after your Book no Book was revealed.
10191 — Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Qabīṣa related to us, he said: ʿAmmār ibn Ruzayq related to us, on the authority of ʿAmmār al-Duhnī, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: in a similar manner — except that in his report he said: By Allah, it was revealed to your Prophet, and afterward nothing abrogated it, and I heard him say: Woe to the killer of the believer; he comes on the Day of Resurrection holding his head with his hand — then he mentioned the report in a similar manner.
10192 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abzā said to me: Ibn ʿAbbās was asked about His word: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell," whereupon he said: nothing abrogated it. And concerning this verse he said: وَالَّذِينَ لا يَدْعُونَ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَهًا آخَرَ وَلا يَقْتُلُونَ النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلا بِالْحَقِّ وَلا يَزْنُونَ وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ يَلْقَ أَثَامًا [Sūrat al-Furqān: 68] (And those who do not call upon another god alongside Allah, and do not kill the soul that Allah has forbidden except with right, and do not commit fornication (zinā) — and whoever does that shall meet the recompense for the sin.) He said: this was revealed concerning the people of associating partners with Allah (shirk).
10193 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abzā commanded me to ask Ibn ʿAbbās about these two verses, and he mentioned it in a similar manner.
10194 — Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ṭalq ibn Ghannām related to us, on the authority of Zāʾida, on the authority of Manṣūr, he said: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr related to me — or: it was related to me on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abzā commanded him to ask Ibn ʿAbbās about these two verses, that in "al-Nisāʾ": "and whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell" to the end of the verse — and that in "al-Furqān": وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ يَلْقَ أَثَامًا to وَيَخْلُدْ فِيهِ مُهَانًا (and whoever does that shall meet the recompense for the sin ... and abide therein eternally, humiliated). Ibn ʿAbbās said: When the man enters Islam and knows its laws and ordinances, and then kills a believer intentionally, then there is no repentance for him. As for that in "al-Furqān": when that was revealed, the polytheists (mushrikīn) among the people of Mecca said: We have associated partners with Allah, and we have killed the soul that Allah has forbidden without right, and we have committed the abominations — what then benefits us about Islam? He said: Then was revealed: إِلا مَنْ تَابَ the verse (except whoever repents).
10195 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Mughīra ibn al-Nuʿmān, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell," he said: nothing abrogated it.
10196 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Mughīra, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: it is among the last of what was revealed; nothing abrogated it.
10197 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Mughīra ibn al-Nuʿmān, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: The people of Kufa became divided over the killing of the believer, so I went to Ibn ʿAbbās and asked him about it, whereupon he said: It was revealed among the last of what was revealed of the Qurʾān, and nothing abrogated it.
10198 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Ādam al-ʿAsqalānī related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, he said: Abū Iyās Muʿāwiya ibn Qurra related to us, he said: Shahr ibn Ḥawshab informed me, he said: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: This verse, "and whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell," was revealed after His word: إِلا مَنْ تَابَ وَآمَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا (except whoever repents and believes and performs righteous deeds), by (a difference of) a year.
10199 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Salm ibn Qutayba related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Muʿāwiya ibn Qurra, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell," he said: it was revealed after إِلا مَنْ تَابَ (except whoever repents), by (a difference of) a year.
10200 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, he said: Abū Iyās related to us, he said: There related to me one who heard Ibn ʿAbbās say concerning the killer of the believer: it was revealed afterward, a year later. Then I said to Abū Iyās: Who related it to you? He said: Shahr ibn Ḥawshab.
10201 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of Abū Ḥaṣīn, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally," he said: there is no repentance for the killer, except that he asks Allah for forgiveness.
10202 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally," the verse. ʿAṭiyya said: And Ibn ʿAbbās was asked about it, and he asserted that it was revealed after the verse in "Sūrat al-Furqān," eight years later, namely His word: وَالَّذِينَ لا يَدْعُونَ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَهًا آخَرَ to His word: غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا (and those who do not call upon another god alongside Allah ... Forgiving, Merciful).
10203 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Muṭarrif, on the authority of Abū al-Safar, on the authority of Nājiya, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: they are the two ineluctable ones (al-mubhamatān): shirk and killing.
10204 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The greatest of the major sins is associating partners with Allah (shirk), and killing the soul that Allah has forbidden, because Allah, glory be to Him, says: "his recompense is Hell, wherein he shall abide eternally, and Allah is wrathful against him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a tremendous punishment."
10205 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us, he said: Hushaym informed us, on the authority of some of his Kufan teachers, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of Masrūq, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, concerning His word: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell," he said: it is indeed binding (muḥkam), and it only increases in severity.
10206 — Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, he said: Hayyāj ibn Bisṭām related to me, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Mūsā ibn ʿUqba, on the authority of Abū al-Zinād, on the authority of Khārija ibn Zayd, on the authority of Zayd ibn Thābit, who said: "Sūrat al-Nisāʾ" was revealed after "Sūrat al-Furqān," six months later.
10207 — Ibn al-Barqī related to us, he said: Ibn Abī Maryam related to us, he said: Nāfiʿ ibn Yazīd informed us, he said: Abū Ṣakhr related to me, on the authority of Abū Muʿāwiya al-Bajalī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: The slain one comes on the Day of Resurrection holding his head with his right hand and the veins of his neck gushing with blood, saying: O Lord, my blood rests with so-and-so! Then they are both taken and propped against the Throne, and I do not know what is decided between them. Then he recited this verse: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, wherein he shall abide eternally," the verse. Ibn ʿAbbās said: By Him in whose hand my soul lies, Allah, mighty and exalted, has not abrogated it since He revealed it to your Prophet, peace be upon him.
10208 — Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿUyayna, on the authority of Abū al-Zinād, who said: I heard a man relating to Khārija ibn Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of Zayd ibn Thābit, who said: I heard your father say: The severe (verse) was revealed after the lenient one, six months later, namely His word: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally" to the end of the verse, after His word: وَالَّذِينَ لا يَدْعُونَ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَهًا آخَرَ to the end of the verse [Sūrat al-Furqān, 68].
10209 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of Abū al-Zinād, who said: I heard a man relating to Khārija ibn Zayd, he said: I heard your father say in this spot at Minā: The severe (verse) was revealed after the lenient one — he said: I think: six months later — namely: "and whoever kills a believer intentionally," after: إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ (Verily, Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him) [Sūrat al-Nisāʾ: 48, 116].
10210 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Nubayṭ, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim, who said: nothing abrogated it since it was revealed, and there is no repentance for him.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most justified of the statements concerning this, with respect to the correct, is the statement of him who said: its meaning is: and whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense, if He recompenses him, is Hell, wherein he shall abide eternally; but He forgives and shows favor to the people who believe in Him and in His Messenger, and so He does not recompense them with eternal abiding therein. Rather He, mighty is His mention, will either forgive out of His grace, so that He does not cause him to enter the Fire, or cause him to enter therein and then bring him out of it through the grace of His mercy — because of what has already preceded of His promise to His believing servants with His word: يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ لا تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا [Sūrat al-Zumar: 53] (O My servants who have been excessive against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah; verily, Allah forgives all sins together.)
* * *
If anyone supposes that, if the killer necessarily falls under this verse, then the polytheist (mushrik) would likewise necessarily fall under it, because shirk is among the sins — then (we say): Allah, mighty is His mention, has already announced that He does not forgive shirk for anyone, with His word: إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ [Sūrat al-Nisāʾ: 48, 116] (Verily, Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him, but He forgives what is below that for whom He wills) — and killing lies below shirk.
