Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (14/40)

Al-Sharḥ al-MumtiʿIbn al-'Uthaymin

the disbeliever. Islam is supreme, and nothing is supreme over it. These are textual and rational proofs that a Muslim is not executed for killing a disbeliever.

His statement, “Nor is a free person [executed] for a slave,” means that a free person is not executed for a slave. The scholars differ concerning this issue. The position of the school is that a free person is not executed for a slave, because the free person is more complete in status than the slave: a slave may be bought and sold, and his blood-money is his value. Thus, that which may be bought and sold cannot be equivalent to a free person. They cite hadiths in support of this, but they are weak, including: “A free person is not executed for a slave” (1).

For this reason, Abu Hanifah and Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah—and this is also one narration from Ahmad—held that a free person is executed for a slave, based on the general wording of the Prophet’s saying, “The blood of the believers is equal, and the least of them may grant protection on behalf of them all” (2). This view is the correct one.

His statement, “The reverse is subject to execution,” means that a disbeliever is executed for a Muslim, on account of the general proofs establishing retribution. Likewise, a slave is executed for a free person, based on the general proofs. If a slave is executed for another slave by the explicit text of the Quran—“and a slave for a slave” [al-Baqarah 2:178]—then his execution for a free person is all the more warranted. Likewise, a slave is executed for his owner: if a slave owned by a mukātab kills his master, he is executed in retaliation for him, because he is inferior to him.

His statement, “A male is executed for a female, and a female for a male,” is based on the general purport of His words:

(1) Narrated by al-Daraqutni, no. 3300, and al-Bayhaqi, 8:35, on the authority of Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both. It was also narrated by al-Daraqutni, no. 3302, and al-Bayhaqi, 8:34, on the authority of Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, with the wording: “It is from the Sunnah that a free person is not executed in retaliation for a slave.” Both reports were graded weak by al-Hafiz in al-Talkhis, no. 1686, and by al-Albani in al-Irwa, no. 2211. (2) Its authentication sources have preceded on p. 39.

الكافر، والإسلام يعلو ولا يُعلى عليه، فهذه أدلة أثرية ونظرية في أن المسلم لا يقتل بالكافر. قوله: «ولا حر بعبد» أي: لا يقتل الحر بالعبد، وهذه المسألة اختلف فيها أهل العلم، فالمذهب أن الحر لا يقتل بالعبد؛ لأن الحر أكمل من العبد، إذ إن العبد يباع ويشترى، وديته قيمته، فلا يمكن أن يكون ما يباع ويشترى مكافئاً للحر، ولهم أحاديث لكنها ضعيفة منها: «لا يقتل حر بعبد» (١). ولهذا ذهب أبو حنيفة وشيخ الإسلام ابن تيمية، وهو رواية عن أحمد، إلى أن الحر يقتل بالعبد؛ لعموم قوله ﵊: «المؤمنون تتكافأ دماؤهم، ويسعى بذمتهم أدناهم» (٢) وهذا القول هو الصواب. قوله: «وعكسه يقتل» فيقتل الكافر بالمسلم؛ لعموم الأدلة الدالة على ثبوت القصاص، وكذلك يقتل العبد بالحر؛ لعموم الأدلة، وإذا كان العبد يقتل بالعبد بنص القرآن: ﴿وَالْعَبْدُ بِالْعَبْدِ﴾ [البقرة: ١٧٨] فقتله بالحر من باب أولى، وكذلك يقتل المملوك بالمالك، فالعبد المملوك للمكاتَب إذا قتل سيده فإنه يقتل به؛ لأنه دونه. قوله: «ويقتل الذكر بالأنثى، والأنثى بالذكر» لعموم قوله

(١) أخرجه الدارقطني (٣٣٠٠)، والبيهقي (٨/ ٣٥) عن ابن عباس ﵄ وأخرجه الدارقطني (٣٣٠٢)، والبيهقي (٨/ ٣٤) عن علي ﵁ بلفظ: «من السنة ألا يقتل حر بعبد» وضعفهما الحافظ في التلخيص (١٦٨٦)، والألباني في الإرواء (٢٢١١). (٢) تقدم تخريجه ص (٣٩).