the Sunan. Al-Tirmidhī said: “This is a sound, authentic hadith.” (1)
Whoever kills after granting pardon or accepting the blood money commits a graver offense than one who kills in the first instance. Some scholars have even held that he must be executed as a prescribed legal punishment and that his case is not left to the victim’s heirs. Allah Most High says:
“O you who believe, retaliation is prescribed for you in cases of murder: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female. But if the offender is pardoned in any measure by his brother, then the matter should be pursued according to what is right, and payment should be made to him graciously. This is a concession and mercy from your Lord. Whoever transgresses after that shall have a painful punishment. (178) There is life for you in retaliation, O people of understanding, so that you may become mindful of Allah.” [Sūrat al-Baqara: 178–179]
The scholars said: The hearts of the victim’s heirs seethe with rage until they prefer to kill both the murderer and his kinsmen. They may not be satisfied with killing the murderer alone but instead kill many (2) of his people, such as the tribal chief or the leader of the group. Thus, the murderer transgresses at the outset, and they in turn transgress (3) when exacting retribution, just as the people of the pre-Islamic age used to do and as the latter-day people of ignorance (4) who depart from the Sacred Law do today—whether Bedouins, townspeople, or others.
They may regard it as too grave a matter to kill the murderer because he is an eminent man of higher standing than the victim. This leads the victim’s heirs to kill whichever of the murderer’s kinsmen they can reach. Sometimes