The Ruling on a Group Participating in the Killing of One Person
Author: Imran Ayub Lahori
❖ Principle
- If a group of people jointly kill one person, then all of them are executed in retaliation (qiṣāṣ).
- This applies whether they are few or many, as long as their participation in the murder is proven.
❖ Evidence
① ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه executed five or seven men who deceitfully killed a man. He said:
«لو تمالأ عليه أهل صنعاء لقتلهم جميعا»
“If all the people of Ṣanʿāʾ had collaborated in his murder, I would have killed them all.”
[Muwaṭṭaʾ 4/201]
In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, he said:
«لو اشترك فيه أهل صنعاء لقتلتهم به»
“If all the people of Ṣanʿāʾ had shared in the murder, I would have killed them all in retaliation for him.”
[Bukhārī 6896, Kitāb al-Diyāt]
② The ʿUraynīn killed a shepherd, and the Prophet ﷺ ordered them all to be executed in qiṣāṣ.
[Bukhārī 5685, 5686, Kitāb al-Ṭibb]
❖ Scholarly Opinions
✔ al-Shawkānī رحمه الله:
If murder is proven against all participants, then all must be executed in qiṣāṣ.
[al-Sayl al-Jarrār 4/398]
✔ Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān رحمه الله:
He questioned this, saying there is no definitive sharʿī evidence for killing a group in exchange for one person.
[al-Rawḍah al-Nadiyyah 2/651]
✔ Sayyid Sābiq رحمه الله:
Regardless of the number, if all are involved in the killing of one person, all are executed.
[Fiqh al-Sunnah 3/29]
✔ Dr. Wahbah al-Zuḥaylī رحمه الله:
Execution of the group for one person is obligatory with the consensus of the four imams.
[al-Fiqh al-Islāmī wa Adillatuhu 7/5633; also in Badāʾiʿ al-Ṣanāʾiʿ 7/238; al-Lubāb 3/150; al-Durr al-Mukhtār 5/394; Tabyīn al-Ḥaqāʾiq 6/114]
❖ Related Rulings
- If the heirs of the murdered accept diyah, then each participant in the killing is liable for the full diyah.
[al-Sayl al-Jarrār 4/398] - Just as many can be killed for one person, one person may also be executed in retaliation for a group he killed.
[al-Sayl al-Jarrār 4/399; al-Fiqh al-Islāmī wa Adillatuhu 7/5636]
❖ Conclusion
- Group murderers → all executed in qiṣāṣ.
- Consensus of the four imams supports this ruling.
- Heirs may choose diyah instead of qiṣāṣ, in which case each killer pays the full blood money.
- Symmetry applies: one can be executed for many, and many for one.
