without that person having taken a life or spread corruption in the land, it is as though he had killed all mankind; and whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.” [Sūrat al-Māidah: 32].
In an authentic hadith (1), the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: “The first cases to be adjudicated among people on the Day of Resurrection will be those involving bloodshed.” (2)
The scholars have said: The gravest of the major sins after disbelief is unlawfully taking a life that Allah has made sacred (3).
Killing is of three types:
The first is purely intentional killing. This is when someone intentionally targets (4) a person whom he knows to be inviolable, using something that is ordinarily lethal—whether it kills by its sharp edge, such as a sword or the like; by its weight, such as an anvil (5) or a fuller’s heavy mallet (6); by depriving the victim of breath, as through drowning or strangulation; or by some other means, such as burning, casting the victim from a high place, squeezing the testicles until the soul departs, administering lethal poisons (7), and other similar acts.