Qiṣāṣ: The Ruling Regarding Parents and Children
Author: Imran Ayub Lahori
❖ Principle
- Al-Farʿ (the child) is executed in retaliation for the killing of al-Aṣl (the parent).
- But al-Aṣl (the parent) is not executed in retaliation for killing al-Farʿ (the child).
❖ Evidence
The general proofs of qiṣāṣ establish that a child is executed for killing his parent.
However, there is an exception in the case of a parent killing a child, as stated in the hadith:
«لا يقاد الوالد بالولد»
"A parent is not executed in retaliation for his child."
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Tirmidhī 1129–1130, Kitāb al-Diyāt; Ibn Mājah 2662, 2599; Tirmidhī 1400; Aḥmad 1/16; Ibn Mājah 2/888; al-Bayhaqī 8/38]
❖ Scholarly Opinions
✔ Imām al-Shāfiʿī:
"I met most of the scholars, and they all held that a parent is not executed in retaliation for the child."
✔ Majority (Jumhūr), Ḥanafīs, Imām Aḥmad:
Also hold this view, reasoning that the parent is the cause of the child’s existence, and thus the child cannot be the cause of the parent’s destruction.
[Subul al-Salām 3/1577; Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī 4/752; al-Umm 4/195; al-Sayl al-Jarrār 4/390; al-Sunan al-Kubrā of al-Bayhaqī 8/38]
❖ Conclusion
- Child kills parent → child executed.
- Parent kills child → parent not executed (based on explicit prophetic hadith).
- This is the view of the vast majority of scholars.
