—Messenger of Allah! How could you ask about it?’ Instead, they said, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’

He then fell silent again until they thought he was about to give it another name. Then he asked, ‘Is it not al-Balda?’—al-Balda is one of the names of Mecca. They answered, ‘Indeed.’ He continued, ‘And what day is this?’ They replied, just as before, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘Is it not the Day of Sacrifice?’ ‘Indeed, O Messenger of Allah,’ they said. They already knew that Mecca is inviolable, that the month of Dhu al-Hijjah is inviolable, and that the Day of Sacrifice is inviolable—in other words, all three are sacred precincts.

The Prophet ﷺ then proclaimed, ‘Your blood, your property, and your honour are sacred to you, like the sanctity of this day, in this land, in this month.’ Thus he re-affirmed the prohibition of these three: blood, property, and honour. All are inviolable. Blood covers life itself and any injury short of death; property includes both the small and the great; honour encompasses fornication, sodomy, and slander, and may also be understood to include backbiting, verbal abuse, and reviling. These three matters are forbidden for a Muslim to violate with respect to his fellow Muslim.

Accordingly, the life of a Muslim is lawful to take only in one of three cases: the married adulterer, a life for a life, and the one who abandons his religion and parts from the community.

Wealth is likewise inviolable: it is unlawful to take the property of a Muslim except with his willing consent. Allah the Exalted says, ‘O you who believe, do not consume one another’s wealth unlawfully…’ (4:29).