If Anyone Slays a Person (Qur'an 5:32)

Quran 5:32 states that Allah "decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely" (a concept lifted from the Jewish Talmud). This verse is one of the evidences often cited by duaah in the wake of terrorist attacks and massacres as proof that the Qur'an forbids such senseless slaughter. There is consensus in Islamic law against the killing of non-combatant women and children and such acts are widely condemned by traditional scholars, though sometimes this particular verse is misquoted as though all killing is forbidden, or the context of the entire passage is left out. The classical view relates the caveats and punishments in this passage mainly to public safety (including against terrorism in modern jurisprudence), though these verses have also had implications for dissidents who do not want to abide by the strictures of Shari'ah (Islamic Law).

Academic scholar Michael Pregill notes the common ecumenical usage of verse 32 in popular discourse, then observes "But reading the convergence of Mishnah and Qur'an as a specimen of pre-modern ecumenism is clearly anachronistic if we conflate it with or project it onto the historical milieu that the Qur'an was revealed to address. Rather, given the overarching thrust of the surah, we must conclude that the rabbinic precursor has been deliberately appropriated and its major themes strategically reconstrued to propel a more strident, if not openly militant, message."^[1]

Introduction

Many websites^[2][3], public figures^[4], and duaah claim that the following verse appears in the Qur'an, and that it denounces all killing and equates the slaying of one human life to that of genocide against the entirety of mankind.

However, this verse, as above quoted, is a paraphrase which omits certain caveats.

Qur'an 5:32

The actual verse reads as follows:

Although this verse often cited to the effect that Islam as a religion categorically forbids killing (particularly in the name of the religon), in addition to the entirety of the verse itself it is instructive to look at the verse in context:

The full passage shows how the quoted portion related to the Qabeel and Habeel (Cain and Abel) cycle in Islam (including details taken from the Talmud, see discussion of the parallel with Sanhedrin 37a). It is also apparent that the passage as a whole calls for the execution and torture of certain people, including those who spread mischief/corruption, a concept about which the Islamic tradition has much to say.

Analysis

Its Context

The preceding verses 5:27-31 talk about the biblical story of Cain and Abel. Abel offered animal sacrifice to Allah and Abel offered crops. Allah liked the animal sacrifice, but he rejected the crops, so Cain got angry and killed Abel ^[5]. Then comes the verse 5:32, beginning with "for that reason" or "on that account" (مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ, min ajli dhaalika), meaning "for the reason Cain killed Abel" ^[6]. Then the verse describes a decree given to "the Children of Israel" i.e. the Jews who, according to Islam, received an earlier set of scriptures. Incidentally, the Qur'an here is mistakenly referencing a human rabbinical commentary found in the Talmud^[7] as if it had been a decree in the words of Allah.

The next two verses explain how the principle should be applied in the mixed-faith community now watched over by Muhammad (this is apparent in the subsequent verses of the same surah which deal with legal issues and Muhammad's role when Jews ask him to judge their matters). Those next verses elaborate on the caveat about those who cause fasād (mischief/corruption), which appears both in verse 32 and verse 33 and was an Arabic word defined in dictionaries as corruption, unrighteousness, disorder, disturbance.^[8] What is often presented as being a purely peaceful message, at the same time includes a warning:

Scope of the principle

The principle in verse 5:32 seems to refer to the killing and saving of not just believers, but any person ('nafsan' نفسا, which means a soul) who is not excluded by the exceptions. The prominent classical scholar Ibn Kathir in his Qur'anic exegesis records evidence of two views, with some hadith narrations that restrict the principle to the killing of a believer, while other narrations use a more general formulation like the Qur'anic verse.

For 5:32 he cites the early Qur'anic commentator and Tabi'un, Sayid ibn Jubayr (who lived at the time of Prophet Muhammad, and was a companion of Aisha):

He also cites another Tabi'un and commentator of the Qur'an, Mujahid ibn Jabr (a student of Ibn Abbas; a paternal cousin of Muhammad) while commenting on verse 5:32:

Muslim scholars generally consider Mujahid ibn Jabr to be a narrator of the highest reliability.^[9]

On the other hand, Ibn Abbas is also cited by Ibn Kathir for this verse, giving the more general opinion, that it refers to the killing of a "soul that Allah has forbidden killing". Being a companion of Muhammad, Ibn Abbas was present around the time these verses were revealed. Together with Ibn Jabr, he went through the Qur'an thirty times and memorized the meanings.

Uthman is also recorded in Ibn Kathir's tafsir to have paraphrased the verse as applying to all people. This refers to the siege of Uthman's house by a Muslim delegation who had intercepted a letter from him calling for their execution. He convinces an ally not to fight the besiegers by citing verse 5:32.

The Meaning of mischief/corruption (fasād فساد)

The Qur'an describes the punishments for those who "wage war against Allah and his messenger" and strive for "mischief" or "corruption" (fasād فساد) in the Land as execution, crucifixion, the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land:

In his academic article on the topic, Michael Pregill argues that fasād here and in verse 32 is being invoked against the Jews and that in Medinan passages, the scope of the word expands beyond the unfaithful peoples of the past to now being strongly associated with the Jews as a proximate threat to Muhammad and the community.^[1]

Traditionally, two main groups are identified as the target in hadiths and tafsirs (Quranic commentaries). A hadith graded hasan (good) by al-Albani in Sunan Abu Dawud identifies the target of verse 33 as polytheists, stating that they are not protected by the exemption for repentance before arrest mentioned in verse 34:

The other main hadith tradition relates these verses to an incident of robbery and murder by people from the tribe of 'Uraniyyun or 'Ukil. Retribution for murder is one of the caveats in verse 5:32 for which the peaceful principle does not apply. Some of the punishments prescribed in verse 5:33 are ordered by Muhammad as a result of the incident in this tradition:

In one of the earliest tafsirs, al-Tabari in his commentary for Q. 5:32-33 relates the punishments to the crime of ḥirābah, or highway robbery. He defines fasād in both verses as including causing fear on the believers, obstructing their way, robbing their property unlawfully and outrage on their chastity and dignity.^[10]

Ibn Kathir in his tafsir for these verses extends al-Tabari's interpretation, defining fasād as theft, robbery, murder, apostasy, polytheism, causing terror, zinā and, money manipulation.

Ibn Kathir also defines fasād in another context in his commentary for Quran 2:11:

Quite similar to Ibn Kathir's commentary, Tafsir al-Jalalayn says the following in relation to Q. 5:32.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn relates verse 33 to the 'Uraniyyun hadith incident quoted above, including some legal opinions regarding the punishments from Shafi'i (founder of one of the four major Sunni legal schools):

The broader definitions found in some major classical tafsirs seem to be based on the characteristics of the Uraniyyun hadith incident quoted above, including the apostasy of the murderers/robbers as well as rape in some narrations of the incident.^[10]

Modernist Islamic scholars on the other hand argue that verses such as Quran 5:64 in the same surah link corruption (fasād) in the land with warfare, Quran 7:85-86 links it with ambushes, while Quran 8:73 and Quran 89:11-12 links it with oppression.

Quran 5:33 punishments in Islamic jurisprudence

The punishments listed in Q. 5:33 are among the Hudud punishments whose authority is derived from the Quran or sahih hadiths, and were interpreted by jurists as applying only to the crime of hirabah. Much like in the tafsirs, this was generally defined by Jurists as an armed group commiting robbery and fear on the highways. The Shafi'i and Hanbali schools extended this to include the same crime taking place in the desert, while for the Maliki school, fasād (mischief/corruption) was the essence of Hirabah and not clearly defined in the verses. They viewed it as including rape, burglary, and the use of intoxicants or deceit to lure those of immature and incapable minds. The various alternative punishments listed in the verse were to be meted out by the authorities in public, depending on whether the case is one of killing, theft, both, or the threat thereof. Jurists from the legal schools differed on the details.^[10]

Modern Islamic scholars have generally followed the non-Maliki classical opinions, relating the verse to the crime of Hirabah as highway/armed robbery, and sometimes expanding it to include modern terrorism, while Islamists such as Abul A'la Maududi and Sayyid Qubt viewed Hirabah more widely as going against a Muslim ruler who rules in accordance with Sharia in the Islamic state.^[10]

Views on Qisas (equal punishment) for killing a non-Believer

According to sahih hadith, Muhammad said the life of a non-Muslim is not sacred:

The prominent scholar Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328 CE) regarded Muhammad's command in the above hadith as applying to those who fought against the Muslims.

Muhammad also gave the verdict (fatwa) that a Muslim can not be killed for killing a non-Muslim, and this stipulation forms one of the core principles of the laws of the Dhimma.

The majority of Muslim scholars held this view, while a minority (the Hanafi school of jurisprudence) believed that a Muslim can be killed if he kills a non-Muslim Dhimmi who is under the "protection" of the Islamic community.^[11][12]

The lack of Qisas for killing a non-Muslim does not necessarily contradict the principle in Qur'an verse 5:32, and murder of both Muslims and non-Muslims is a punishable crime in predominantly Muslim countries around the world today. At the same time, the death penalty for apostasy still exists on the lawbooks of some of these countries.

Today

Hirabah and the Quranic punishments in 5:33 feature in the legislation of a number of Islamic countries around the word, generally defined in terms of armed threats to public safety and property or rape on public roads and out of town.^[10] In the Islamic world, those who propagate their non-Islamic faiths or publicly criticize Islam are often harassed, imprisoned and even executed by their communities or their governments, under laws against "spreading disorder [fasād, mischief] through the land" and apostasy.

See Also

• Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature
• Misrepresentations of Islamic Scripture

External Links

References