Those who said: There is no repentance for the killer of a believer

Kardam said: A man asked Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) about a man who killed a believer: Will his repentance be accepted? All of them said: Is he able to bring him back to life? Is he able to find a tunnel in the earth or a ladder in the sky? Is he able to avoid death?

Salim bin Abi al-Ja'd said: A man came to Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: O Abu Abbas, what is your view about a person who killed deliberately: What is his punishment? He recited this verse: Translation: "His recompense is Hell, abiding therein forever, and the wrath of Allah is upon him." That man asked: What is your view if he repents, believes, does righteous deeds and is then guided? He said: How can his repentance be accepted? May your mother lose you! The slain person will come on the Day of Resurrection holding his head, with blood flowing from his veins, until he stands near the Throne and says: O my Lord, ask this one why he killed me.

Najiyah said that Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: These two are grave sins: associating partners with Allah (shirk) and killing.

Al-Hasan al-Basri said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I have not asked my Lord repeatedly about anything as much as I asked Him about the one who kills a believer, and He did not answer me."

Abu al-Duha said: I was with Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) in his tent when a man asked him about a man who deliberately killed a believer. So Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) recited this verse to him: "Whoever kills a believer deliberately, his recompense is Hell, abiding therein forever." So consider whom you have killed!

Salamah bin Nubayt said that al-Dahhak said: There is no repentance for the one who kills a believer.

Al-Hasan al-Basri said that Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) said: In my view, the most hated opponent on the Day of Resurrection will be the man whom I killed, with blood flowing from his veins, and he will say: O my Lord, ask this one for what reason he killed me.

Salamah bin Nubayt said that al-Dahhak bin Muzahim said: For me to repent from associating partners with Allah (shirk) is more beloved to me than to repent from killing a believer.

Salamah bin Nubayt said that al-Dahhak bin Muzahim said concerning this verse: And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, in which he will abide forever. Since this verse was revealed, no part of it has been abrogated.

Sayyiduna Uqbah bin Amir al-Juhani (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Whoever meets Allah in the state that he has not associated anything with Him and has not shed unlawful blood will enter Paradise.

Ibrahim said that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: A man continues to be in the spaciousness of his religion as long as his hand is clean of blood. Then, when he plunges his hand into unlawful blood, his modesty is stripped from him.

Shahr bin Hawshab said that Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The slain person will come on the Day of Resurrection and sit in the middle of the road. When the killer passes by him, he will stand up, seize him by his collar and say: O Lord! Ask this one why he killed me! That person will say: So-and-so ordered me. He said: The killer and the one who gave the order will both be seized and thrown into Hell.

Abu al-Ashhab said that Muzahim al-Dabbi related to al-Hasan al-Basri that Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: A man, in order to water them at his basin, was waiting for his camels that were about to come to that basin, when a thirsty rider came to him calmly and said: May I come to the water? He replied: No. So that person moved away and tied up his mount. When his mount saw the water, it approached the basin and burst the basin. Then the owner of the basin got up, took his sword from his neck and killed that man. The narrator said: So he went out to seek a fatwa, and he asked some of the Companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) (I will not name them), and all of them made him despair, until he went to one Companion, who said to the man: Are you able to turn him back from the water just as you brought him to it? He said: No. He said: Are you able to seek a tunnel in the earth or a ladder into the sky? He said: No. Then the man had gone only a little way when he called him back and asked him: Do you have parents? He said: My mother is alive. That Companion said to him: Go, carry her and serve her and obey her. If the other person enters Hell, then may Allah distance the one who distanced him.

Sulayman bin Ali said that Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about this verse: Whoever kills a person, without that person having taken a life or having spread corruption in the land, it is as if he has killed all of mankind [Al-Ma'idah: 32]. Does the ruling of this verse apply to us as it did to the Children of Israel? He said: Yes, by the One besides Whom there is no god.