that it denotes discretionary choice. Allah willing, it will be explained which of the two views is more correct.

Whoever among them kills one whose life is protected equally, or one who is not equal in this respect—such as a child, a slave, or a dhimmi—and takes property, is executed and then crucified until he becomes widely known. If he kills but does not take property, he is executed as an obligatory punishment but not crucified. If they commit an offense that entails retaliatory punishment for a limb, its enforcement becomes obligatory, ..............

His statement, “Whoever among them kills one whose life is protected equally, or one who is not equal in this respect—such as a child, a slave, or a dhimmi—and takes property, is executed and then crucified until he becomes widely known”: if they combine killing with taking property, the two punishments are combined for them: execution and crucifixion. The author says that there is no difference whether the killing is one for which retaliation applies between the killer and the victim, or one for which retaliation does not apply.

For example, retaliation does not apply between a child and his father: if the father is the killer, he is not subject to retaliation. This is why the author says, “one whose life is protected equally, or one who is not equal in this respect, such as a child.” A child is not equal to his parent with respect to retaliation, meaning that if his father kills him, the father is not executed. In reality, however, the child is equal, but there is an impediment: parenthood. Yet in the present chapter, he is executed for killing him. Likewise, a slave is not equal to a free person. Thus, if the highway robber is free and the person robbed is a slave, and he takes his property and kills him, that free man is executed and crucified.

A dhimmi is not equal to a Muslim. Thus, if a Muslim highway robber kills a dhimmi and takes his property, he must be executed and then crucified, because this is a prescribed punishment, not a matter of retaliation, such that we would say that it is subject to the conditions required for retaliation to be established. Rather, it is a legal punishment intended to deter people from this act which Allah, Most High, has called waging war.

His statement, “executed and then crucified,” means that he is crucified after being executed; that is, we bind him to a wooden structure with two crossbars and an upright post, set him upon it, bind him to it, and tie his hands to the two horizontal beams.