وما كان لمؤمن أن يقتل مؤمنا إلا خطأ ومن قتل مؤمنا خطأ فتحرير رقبة مؤمنة ودية مسلمة إلى أهله إلا أن يصدقوا … فمن لم يجد فصيام شهرين متتابعين توبة من الله · ومن يقتل مؤمنا متعمدا فجزاؤه جهنم خالدا فيها وغضب الله عليه ولعنه وأعد له عذابا عظيما
Wa mā kāna li-muʾminin an yaqtula muʾminan illā khaṭaʾā, wa man qatala muʾminan khaṭaʾan fa-taḥrīru raqabatin muʾminatin wa diyatun musallamatun ilā ahlihī illā an yaṣṣaddaqū … fa-man lam yajid fa-ṣiyāmu shahrayni mutatābiʿayni tawbatan mina'llāh · Wa man yaqtul muʾminan mutaʿammidan fa-jazāʾuhū jahannamu khālidan fīhā wa ghaḍiba'llāhu ʿalayhi wa laʿanahū wa aʿadda lahū ʿadhāban ʿaẓīmā
"It is not for a believer to kill a believer — except by mistake. Whoever kills a believer by mistake must free a believing slave and pay compensation delivered to his family, unless they remit it as a charity… Whoever cannot find the means shall fast two consecutive months, as a turning back granted by God. And whoever kills a believer deliberately, his recompense is Hell, to remain there; God has been angry with him, has cursed him, and has prepared for him a great punishment."
From these two verses arose one of the widest discussions in classical jurisprudence: retaliation, blood-money, expiation, the kinds of intent and their conditions. That discussion is not entered into in this section and no legal ruling is issued.
The ninety-second verse separates a single act (killing by mistake) into five different cases. The table gives the wording of the verse; it establishes no ruling.
| Case | The wording in the verse | The return the verse counts |
|---|---|---|
| The general case | Wa man qatala muʾminan khaṭaʾā | Taḥrīru raqabatin muʾmina and diyatun musallamatun ilā ahlihī |
| The family remits it | Illā an yaṣṣaddaqū | The compensation lapses |
| If he was of a people hostile to you and himself a believer | Fa-in kāna min qawmin ʿaduwwin lakum wa huwa muʾmin | Only taḥrīru raqabatin muʾmina — no compensation is named |
| If he was of a people with whom you have a treaty | Wa in kāna min qawmin baynakum wa baynahum mīthāq | Diyatun musallamatun ilā ahlihī and taḥrīru raqabatin muʾmina |
| One who cannot find the means | Fa-man lam yajid | Ṣiyāmu shahrayni mutatābiʿayn |
Two. All the returns counted are in the verse's own wording, and nothing outside the wording has been added to the table.
| Return | To whom it goes |
|---|---|
| Diya | To his family — ilā ahlihī |
| Taḥrīru raqaba | To a third person — the one who gains his freedom |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the recipients of the two returns: the verse does not confine the making good to the injured party alone; it makes one person's freedom part of the return as well.
And the word's place in the sūra must be recorded: raqaba (a slave) had been named in this sūra at the twenty-fifth and thirty-sixth verses too. In all three occurrences the direction is the same: marriage, the list of kindness, and setting free.
Taṣadduq, from the root ص-د-ق: to give as a charitable gift. And the choice of the word must be recorded: the verse does not say "if they waive it", it says "if they remit it as a charity".
I record this as an observation about word order: to give up one's right is named in the verse with a verb of giving.
And the direction of the particle min must be recorded: the turning back is from God. The root ت-و-ب: to turn back. The root was treated at al-Baqara 2/37 and at the seventeenth and eighteenth verses of this sūra. I rely on those treatments.
| Order | Wording |
|---|---|
| 1 | Jazāʾuhū jahannamu khālidan fīhā |
| 2 | Wa ghaḍiba'llāhu ʿalayh |
| 3 | Wa laʿanahū |
| 4 | Wa aʿadda lahū ʿadhāban ʿaẓīmā |
Four items in a single verse. This is a countable fact, and an enumeration of this density is rare in the Qurʾān.
And there is disagreement in the classical literature over the expression khālidan fīhā. I put it in a table; I impose no preference, I enter no theological debate, and none of it is binding.
| Reading | How it understands it | Its ground |
|---|---|---|
| A | It states perpetuity | The direct sense of the word |
| B | It states a long time; in Arabic khulūd is used both for absolute endlessness and for a long duration | The word's use in the language |
| C | The ruling holds for one who commits the act while holding it lawful | The qualification wa yaghfiru mā dūna dhālika li-man yashāʾ at 4/48 and 4/116 |
| D | The verse is a sentence of threat, and the force of sentences of threat does not exclude the possibility of pardon | The verses of forgiveness in the same sūra |
And what must be recorded as a datum of the text is this: the same sūra says at the forty-eighth and hundred and sixteenth verses that everything other than associating partners with God may be forgiven. These two data stand side by side in the text, and this commentary records both.
What the ninety-second verse does is to refuse to tie a single act to a single return. For an act producing the same outcome, the verse takes separately into account the situation of the doer, the community to which the victim belonged, and the doer's means. This is a structure visible in the wording of the verse.