Points derived from the ḥadith:
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A Muslim is not executed in retaliation for killing a non-Muslim, because the disbeliever is not the Muslim’s equal. This is the position of the three imams—Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad. Abū Ḥanīfah, however, holds that a Muslim may be put to death for killing a dhimmī (a non-Muslim living under Muslim protection). He argues that the texts on legal retaliation (qisās) are expressed in unrestricted terms: “Retribution is prescribed for you concerning the slain” (Q 2:178); “life for life” (Q 5:45); and, “Whoever is killed unjustly, We have given his heir authority” (Q 17:33). These verses are wholly general—they draw no distinction between one slain person and another, one life and another, or one wronged party and another. Anyone who claims that they are limited or qualified does so without evidence.
The majority counter with the present ḥadith and with the report, “The believers’ blood is of equal worth.” ʿAlī (d. 40 AH) said, “Part of the Sunnah is that no believing Muslim be killed for a disbeliever” (reported by Aḥmad). These narrations qualify the general verses cited by the Ḥanafīs. Parity between the killer and the victim is a prerequisite for qisās; disbelief is a deficiency that nullifies that parity, and thus retaliation is not due. By its very nature disbelief makes a person’s blood permissible, but the covenant of dhimmah suspends that permissibility.
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Conversely, a disbeliever is executed for killing a Muslim by consensus of the scholars, for the sound ḥadith states that “the Prophet ﷺ executed a Jew who had crushed the head of a girl from the Anṣār,” and because the Muslim’s rank is higher by virtue of his Islam.
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The ḥadith also proves the prohibition of killing a muʿāhad (a treaty-bound non-Muslim) so long as he adheres to his pact with the Muslims. Al-Bukhārī narrates from Ibn ʿUmar that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever kills a muʿāhad will not even smell the fragrance of Paradise.” Abū Ḥanīfah nevertheless rules that a Muslim is executed in retaliation for killing a muʿāhad, in opposition to the other three imams.