A Muslim is Not Executed in Retaliation for a Kāfir
Author: Imran Ayub Lahori
❖ Prophetic Evidence
① ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه narrates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
«ألا لا يقتل مؤمن بكافر»
"Indeed, no believer is killed in retaliation for a disbeliever."
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl 7/266, no.2209; Aḥmad 1/119; al-Nasāʾī 8/19; Abū Dāwūd 4530, Kitāb al-Diyāt; Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār 3/192; al-Dāraquṭnī 3/98; al-Bayhaqī 8/29; al-Nasāʾī 8/24]
② Abū Juḥayfah رضي الله عنه said:
I asked ʿAlī رضي الله عنه: “Do you have any knowledge revealed apart from the Qur’an?”
He replied: “By the One Who created the seed and gave life to the soul, I have nothing except understanding which Allah grants a man regarding the Qur’an, and what is in this scroll.”
When asked what was in the scroll, he replied:
«المؤمنون تتكافأ دماؤهم، وفكاك الأسير، وأن لا يقتل مسلم بكافر»
"The blood of all Muslims is equal, the freeing of captives, and that no Muslim is killed in retaliation for a disbeliever."
[Aḥmad 1/79; Bukhārī 111, 1870 (Kitāb al-ʿIlm); Abū Dāwūd 4530; al-Nasāʾī 8/23; Tirmidhī 1412]
❖ Rulings Regarding a Dhimmī (Non-Muslim Under Muslim Protection)
- Majority (Jumhūr): A dhimmī is also a kāfir; therefore, a Muslim is not killed in retaliation for him.
- Ḥanafīs, al-Shaʿbī, al-Nakhaʿī: A Muslim may be killed in retaliation for a dhimmī.
- Mālik: A Muslim is not killed for any kāfir, except if he deceives and kills him treacherously.
- al-Shāfiʿī: A Muslim is never killed for a kāfir.
[Nayl al-Awṭār 4/446; al-Umm 6/25; al-Mabsūṭ 26/131; al-Mughnī 11/466; Bidāyat al-Mujtahid 2/399]
❖ Evidences of Those Allowing Retaliation for a Dhimmī
They cite the hadith:
«لا يقتل مؤمن بكافر ولا ذو عهد في عهده»
"No believer is killed in retaliation for a disbeliever, and no treaty-holder is killed while under his treaty."
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Abū Dāwūd 3797, Kitāb al-Diyāt; Abū Dāwūd 4530; Aḥmad 2/180]
❖ Preferred Opinion (Rājiḥ)
- The above hadith only affirms that a person under treaty (ahl al-ʿahd) cannot be killed as long as his covenant remains.
- It does not prove that a Muslim should be executed in retaliation for a dhimmī.
- There is no sound, binding evidence to establish such a ruling.
Therefore, the stronger opinion is that even in the case of a dhimmī, a Muslim is not executed in retaliation.
[al-Sayl al-Jarrār 4/394; Nayl al-Awṭār 4/446; Fiqh al-Sunnah 3/26; Subul al-Salām 3/1581]
❖ Conclusion
- Explicit hadith states: “No Muslim is killed in retaliation for a disbeliever.”
- Majority view: Applies to all kāfirs, including dhimmīs.
- Minority view (Ḥanafīs): Muslim killed for dhimmī.
- Rājiḥ: A Muslim is never executed in retaliation for any kāfir, dhimmī or otherwise.
