Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 93 – Fighting With A Moral Compass
AI: Summary ©
The importance of not killing another Muslim is discussed, including the Sharia's protection of life and the punishment of sin. Fasting is a blessing for the body and can lead to control and avoiding harm. The Sharia provides commands to stop harms and fast the numbers of two consecutive months. Improvements in forgiveness and avoiding harm are also emphasized. The importance of caution and seeking clarity in Islam is also emphasized.AI: Transcript ©
We are on page number 93 which is
in the 5th of the Quran, Surah Al
Nisa.
In the previous episode, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
gave to us a number of instructions concerning
the hypocrites
and the way that the muslims should,
should engage with them or not engage with
them as the case may be and those
details are mentioned in the previous episode.
And today insha Allah we begin with verse
number 92.
Allah says
Never should a believer kill another believer except
by mistake.
If anyone kills a believer by mistake, he
must free 1 Muslim slave and pay compensation
to the victims relatives unless they charitably forgot.
If the victim belonged to a people at
war with you but it is a believer,
then the compensation
is only to free a believing slave.
If he belonged to a people with whom
you have a treaty,
then compensation should be handed over to his
relatives and a believing slave set free. Anyone
who lacks the means to do this must
fast for 2 consecutive months by way of
repentance to Allah. Indeed Allah is all knowing
all wise.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this verse as
you can see verse number 97 or 92
rather of Surah Al Nisa
speaks about this issue of
murder
and Allah begins by saying
never should a believer kill another believer.
And this shows to you this particular opening
of the verse
the severity of this sin, the severity of
this action
and that is murder.
To kill another Muslim,
it is one of the
major
sins in Islam.
To kill another Muslim is one of the
major sins of this religion because Allah says,
it is not possible for a believer,
never should a believer meaning that it is
something so rare as to happen that it
should never even or rarely occur within a
community
And that is because as we know the
sharia
gives to people rights and from the greatest
rights that we have is the right of
a fellow Muslim over another Muslim.
The Muslims have rights upon one another because
the bonds that tie them are the bonds
of faith and the bonds of Islam and
those bonds of faith in Islam
are
greater than the bonds of blood or marriage
or business or anything else that may occur.
And so the believer is like to another
believer, the believer is to another believer like
a brother and
they are so close to one another that
never would they imagine harming
one another, let alone getting to the situation
where one kills another. And that is why
the Prophet told us,
don't only turn after me like the kuffar
killing one another. Don't be like those disbelievers
that you kill each other. And so the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam warned the muslims
about this because he knew that that is
something which would take place and it is
something unfortunately which we see today, Muslims killing
other Muslims. And I want I don't just
mean at wars or at the at the
state level. I mean, even individuals. A Muslim
will kill another Muslim because of money or
because of some deal that they're doing or
sometimes because of sins that they're both engaged
in. They're engaged in haram, drugs or whatever
it may be and it leads to killing
one another. Allah anwajid says,
never should a Muslim kill another Muslim.
It is not possible for a Muslim to
kill another Muslim
unless it is a genuine mistake.
And that is why in the Sharia, there
are 3 types of murder that take place.
The first of them
is intentional murder.
Intentional murder is when a person goes out
to harm another person with the intention of
killing them. That is called an Arabic Qatul
Ahmad. That is one known in the books
of fiqh.
The second type of killing is what we
call shibhul amd. It is
unintentional in the sense that that person
wanted to harm another individual but didn't intend
to kill him.
And so he wanted to harm them, but
not necessarily kill them but he ends up
killing them anyway as a result of their
action. And the 3rd type is the one
that is being focused on in this verse
and that is unintentional killing, accidental killing, it
is Qatul Khatta. When When a person kills
another person, they didn't intend to harm them,
they didn't intend to kill them, but they
end up killing them by accident.
And so that is what Allah is referring
to here.
A believer should never kill another believer unless
there is a genuine mistake. What happens if
it is a genuine mistake? Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala gives to us a number
of instructions.
If a person kills another believer by mistake,
what is the expiation?
That person must free a slave.
They must buy a slave and free them
for the sake of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
That's the first expiation.
And they must give the blood money to
the family.
The blood money is that which has been
mentioned within the Sharia, they give the blood
money and they give it to the family
of the person who is the victim they
give it to his family members as compensation
and that is called blood money or in
Arabic it is called.
Unless
those people wish to forego the blood money.
The people may understand, for example, that family
may understand that it was a genuine mistake.
This person didn't intend to harm. It was
a mistake that was made and so they
say, we don't want the blood money. It's
okay. We forgive you. And no doubt that
is something which is good in terms of
reward, that a person forgives another Muslim for
a genuine mistake that they made. It was
unintentional on their part, it was accidental,
they ended up killing someone because Allah Azzawaj
decreed that that was what would take place.
They had no malice in their heart, no
ill will or ill intention in their heart.
It just so happened that their actions led
to the death of 1 of the Muslim
and so they forgive. However, that is a
favor that they do if they so choose
to do so. If not, then the right
of them or the right that they have
is to receive the blood money from that
person who committed the accidental killing. And that
blood money is upon his family members, so
the the the murderer or the person who
commits the act of killing, it is upon
his close male relatives from his father's side.
Those people in Arabic are called
the Asaba. These people are your close male
relatives. They are the ones who come together
and they gather the Awas together and they
help
in the paying of that blood money.
But he must still free a slave
because the freeing of the slave is for
the sin that he committed and that is
between him and Allah azza wa Jal and
the blood money is as a result of
compensation
to the
family of the person who has died. And
so therefore there are 2 rights that are
in play here. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala then
continues and he says
If that person that is killed accidentally
was
with a group of people that are enemies
but he was a believer amongst them and
he's killed,
then you only have to give the freeing
of a slave and there is no there
is no dia or there is no blood
money that is due. So this is a
person
who was with non Muslims, with enemies of
Islam
and they are actual enemies. We don't mean
just any non Muslim. No, these are people
who are actually enemies of this group of
Muslims. They're fighting and so on and there
was amongst them a Muslim. This person kills
that Muslim accidentally
and that Muslim has now died. What does
he do? He gives, he frees a slave
for the sake of Allah
by way of expiation and there is no
blood money that is due.
But if that group of people are non
Muslims but there is a pact and a
treaty between you and them, a peace treaty
between you and them, fadiya tummusallimatum
ila'ahlih
that you must give the blood money to
his family
and you must also free a slave.
This shows you therefore these list of commands
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala shows you the
gravity of this issue. And that is because
from the things that the Sharia came to
preserve from the objectives of the Sharia
is the preservation of life. The sharia comes
to preserve people's lives and so that is
why anything that harms a person,
their life, their life or their
their their standard of living in that sense,
that is something which the Sharia has found
ways to stop, has made haram and the
steps that lead to it also Haram and
that is because people have rights and from
those rights is the right to life. That
is from the objectives of the Sharia.
So when a person takes away that right,
takes away that thing by result of the
actions that they perform, the Sharia comes in
and says that you must now expiate and
the expiation is comparable
to the level of harm that's been done
and the harm here is a great harm
because someone's life has been taken away, that
family member who loses that person
will feel a great deal of sorrow and
pain as a result of the not only
the death of that individual
but the manner in which that death took
place as well. Because the person may lose
a family member, a close family member because
of illness, because of old age, because of
one reason or another and there is still
no doubt pain there and sorrow.
But that is different
to the one who is forcibly taken away
from them. He was killed
and because of the act of murder or
killing that takes place, it is a different
type of pain that has ensued
and so therefore those people have a right
that you do some good towards them and
that also you expect for the sin that
you have committed. Allah then goes on to
say famalam yajid fasiya musharayni mutatabiyaini
tawbatamil Allah. And if you cannot give the
expiations
that Allah
is mentioned here you don't have the ability,
you don't have the money, you can't financially
do so then
and this is obviously referring to the freeing
of the slave then you must free or
that you must fast 2 consecutive months.
2 consecutive months. Imagine how difficult it is
and we all know
how fasting of Ramadan,
the whole month is something which can take
its toll on your body. A whole month
of fasting takes its toll on you in
the way that you have to preserve that
fasting for the whole month of Ramadan and
that is with Ramadan and all of its
blessings because Ramadan is a blessed time, Allah
has opened the gates of Jannah, closed the
gates of the fire and so people are
more spiritually inclined to worship Allah and
everyone around
you is fasting,
to not fast in that situation, you would
feel like you were the other one. You
would feel as if things are the way
that they should be because everyone around you
is fasting and it's a time when people
are reading Quran attached to the Masjid, attached
to making dua. There is the blessing of
Ramadan and that is the beauty of fasting
in Ramadan also because if you were to
come outside of Ramadan and try to fast
in Maharam, try to fast in Sha'aban as
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would do, try
to fast in these other months, it takes
much more effort and all of us know
distributed reality. To fast regularly outside of the
month of Ramadan takes much more
perseverance, much more discipline,
requires from you much more effort than the
fasting of Ramadan.
The fasting of Ramadan, even if you don't
practice beforehand, the first day of Ramadan, you
just go into it. And yes, those first
few days may be difficult but then you
get into your routine and you continue the
rest of the month. Now, imagine having to
fast
2 months outside of Ramadan as expiation because
when Allah says fast these 2 consecutive months,
you must fast them therefore without break. Unless
you have a valid excuse, 1 or 2
days you're ill, that's a valid excuse. The
woman may, for example, is on her menstrual
period, that's a valid excuse.
But some of the scholars were of the
position or a number of the scholars were
of the position that if you were to
break those 2 months of consecutive fasting
without a valid excuse then you must start
again because Allah says,
they must be consecutive. Meaning you can't take
breaks, you can't just take days off, you
can't just say it's the weekend or I'm
going on holiday. Those 2 months have to
be consecutive and again that shows to us
the level of how Allah azza wa Jal
or the level of this sin that Allah
azza wa Jal has prescribed for it such
an expiation and Allah azza wa Jal says
that indeed he is all knowing all wise
and so we can see therefore that this
is from the greatest of affairs
and it is something therefore that a Muslim
should never want to harm another Muslim. Forget
about murder and killing, even to a spiritual
hand to harm another Muslim
physically or to harm another Muslim verbally or
to harm them financially or to harm them
psychologically,
any way that is something that a Muslim
should refrain from because that is something which
a person will then have to answer for
before Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala In
verse number 93 Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then
continues and he says
If anyone kills a believer liberally,
the punishment for him is halfire
and there he will remain. Indeed Allah is
angry with him, rejects him or places his
curse upon him and has prepared a tremendous
torment for
him. Allah Subhanhu Wa Ta'ala in the previous
verse as we said
gave us the ruling of those people
who commit murder accidentally.
This is a person who didn't genuinely want
to harm another Muslim but ends up killing
them by
an unintentional action that they performed.
Allah at the beginning of that verse is
we said, It
is not possible for a Muslim to kill
another Muslim meaning that it should be something
that isn't even conceived in the mind, something
that can be thought of or something that
can be thought possible to occur. However, as
we know, there are people who do so,
people who go out with that intention and
that firm conviction to kill another Muslim, whatever
the reason may be, unless it is done
under the Sharia of Allah by
the command of the judge or the Muslim
ruler in the Muslim land, that is something
different. But for any other person to go
and to harm under the Muslim or to
intend to kill them, that is from the
gravest of sins and that is why Allah
here
shows to us to show the severity of
that sin.
And whoever kills another believer
deliberately
He had the intention or share the intention
to go and deliberately kill another Muslim.
The punishment for them is that they will
be in Hawfaire and they will remain therein.
And
Allah will be angry with them
and He will curse them
and has prepared a tremendous torment for them.
So unless that person makes tawba and turns
back to Allah
they will have this grievous punishment from Allah
And so therefore one of the things that
we see from this verse is that as
we know in our religion,
every single sin that a person commits, the
door of Tawba is open for them. They
can turn back to Allah and
repent so long as they don't commit shirk
because shirk is the only sin that Allah
azza wa jal doesn't forgive. We also know
from our aqidah and our own religion that
any Muslim who is upon Tawhid
and commits major sins and Allah then chooses
to punish them in the fire,
Allah will
allow them to remain therein until they are
cleansed, but eventually
they will be extracted from the fire entered
in Jjinder because none of the people of
Tawhid will remain in the fire forever.
So here Allah
is not saying that they will remain in
the fire forever, but Allah is saying that
from all of the sins that are committed,
those who are most likely to have the
severest of those punishments before they are extracted
because of their tawhid from the fire of
* are those people who commit murder liberally.
This is from therefore the gravest and most
major of sins in Islam
that a person would physically
go and deliberately kill another Muslim and therefore
Allah ajawajal speaks about this torment for them
and not only from the punishment of the
fire but the fact that Allah becomes angry
with them
and Allah curses them which as we said
is to
be removed from the mercy of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. Allah azza wa jal is saying
to these people that these are all the
people who commit this type of sin this
type of action that this is the grave
punishment that is in store for them unless
of course they turn back to Allah
they give their expiation and they need to
ask Allah
to repent upon them. In the final verse
that we will take today, verse number 94,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then says,
So, O you who believe,
be careful when you go to fight in
Allah's way, and do not say to someone
who offers you a greeting of peace
you are not a believer
out of desire for the chance gains of
this life for indeed Allah has given you
plenty of gains. You yourself were in the
same position once but Allah was gracious to
you so be careful for indeed Allah is
fully aware
people. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this verse
he speaks and gives an instruction to the
believers
when it comes to them fighting in the
path of Allah aza wa Jal. It is
said that one of the reasons or the
cause of revelation for this verse and Allah
azza wa Jal knows best, but what is
mentioned in the books of tafsir
is that on one of the expeditions
that the, that the Muslims were part of,
there were a couple of companions, a couple
of soldiers
who came across a person
and that person gave them the salam. He
said, 'Assalamu alaikum.'
And they killed him and they took from
him his wealth.
And then they came to the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam and they told him and the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said he gave the
salams.
They said oh Messenger Allah he was with
the non Muslim army, he was without enemies
and therefore we consider him to be an
enemy. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, but
he gave the salams to you which is
an indication that he is a Muslim
and so Allah Azzawajal then revealed this verse
and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said that if
you are out fighting the way
of
Allah
then
be people who discern,
be people who discern
go and seek to clarify
is this person actually a Muslim not a
Muslim
and therefore because again and this follows on
obviously from the verse previously
because to kill a person who's a Muslim
is from the previous of sins as the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam demonstrated in the hadith
of Usama ibn Uzzid radiAllahu anhu when he
killed that man in war, in the middle
of a war, in the middle of the
battle after he said La ilaha illallah. And
then he came and told the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam and he said: O Usama, how
could you kill him after he said La
ilaha illallah? Usama said: O Messenger of Allah,
I had overpowered him. I had my sword
upon him and then he said it, meaning
he only said it to escape death. He
didn't say it at the beginning of our
duel. He waited for me to overpower him.
He waited for me to have the better
of him. He waited until I was about
to kill him and then he said, la
ilaha illallah. So I knew that he was
just seeing it to get away from death.
So I killed him anyway. The prophet salallahu
alaihi wasallam kept saying to him but how
could you kill him after la ilaha illallah?
Only one narration he said to him,
did you open his heart? Did you look
therein? That you can ascertain whether he said
it sincerely or insincerely?
And so Usama said, he kept repeating this
to me over and over again until I
wish that I had not been a Muslim
until that moment, meaning that I had become
a Muslim at that time.
And so here likewise Allah is saying that
when you come across people and they give
you Saddam,
don't say to them that you are not
believers but rather seek to discern and seek
to clarify.
Why? Because you just want their money, you
just want their wealth because as we said
before the ruling of the battlefield is that
if you kill
an enemy you get to take
their belongings that belongs to you, their salib.
And so Allah is saying don't kill them
just because you want that for Allah has
given you much wealth, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has given you much spills of war. So
this shouldn't be the intention. Rather you come
across a person and they say Assalamu Alaikum
or they say La ilaha illallah, the general
ruling is that they will be Muslim if
they look like a Muslim, they dress like
a Muslim, they behave like a Muslim, they
speak like a Muslim, the ruling is that
they are Muslim and therefore the rules of
Islam apply upon them and the sanctity that
Allah gives to the Muslims
also applies to them as well. Qadhaalika kuntum
min kabir Allah ahsawjal is saying you also
were like this once upon a time meaning
that you were also people of misguidance, you
were all born Muslims and Allah Azzawajal guided
you you also didn't know Islam and Allah
Azza wa Jal gave to you Islam so
therefore
seek to discern and seek to clarify
for indeed Allah Azza wa Jal is all
aware of that which you do and so
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala gave this instruction to
the Muslims especially at the time of the
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam because often these
are times of doubt. People in the time
of war and the battlefield, these are times
of doubt because of everything that is taking
place but the Muslim as we said before
is someone who is discerning,
someone who seeks to clarify,
someone who is careful because they know that
these issues or the actions that we perform
is not just about the here and now
only but that Allah Azawajal will hold us
to account for them
as well. And with that insha Allah ta'ala
we come to the end of today's episode.
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