in this manner when one has power over them. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“Allah has prescribed excellence in all things. So when you kill, kill well; and when you slaughter, slaughter well. Let each of you sharpen his blade and spare his animal suffering.”
Narrated by Muslim. He also said:
“The believers are the most restrained of all people in killing.”
As for the crucifixion mentioned, it means raising them up in an elevated place so that people may see them and their case become widely known. According to the majority of scholars, this takes place after execution. Some scholars, however, say that they are crucified and then killed while crucified. Some scholars have permitted killing them by means other than the sword, even saying that they may be left in that elevated place until they die of their own accord, without being killed.
Mutilation in killing, however, is not permissible except as retaliation in kind. ‘Imrān ibn Husayn, may Allah be pleased with them both, said:
“The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, never delivered a sermon to us without commanding us to give charity and forbidding us to mutilate. Even when we kill disbelievers, we do not mutilate them after death, cut off their ears and noses, or slit open their bellies—unless they have done that to us, in which case we may do to them as they did to us.”
Yet refraining is better, as Allah Most High says:
“If you retaliate, then retaliate only to the extent that you have suffered. But if you are patient, that is certainly better for those who are patient.”
“And be patient; your patience is only through Allah.”
It is said that this was revealed when the polytheists mutilated Hamza and other martyrs of Uhud, may Allah be pleased with them. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“If Allah grants me victory over them, I will surely inflict twice as much mutilation as they inflicted on us.”
Allah then revealed this verse—although it had already been revealed earlier in Mecca