The hadith, in its apparent meaning, conflicts with Allah’s saying:

“Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills.”

For killing is unquestionably less than associationism. So how could Allah not forgive it? Al-Munawi, following others, was successful in interpreting the hadith as referring to one who deems killing lawful; otherwise, it is intended as a stern warning and deterrent. Better than this is al-Sindi’s statement in his marginal notes on al-Nasa’i:

“It seems that what is meant is that forgiveness may initially be hoped for in the case of every sin, except the killing of a believer, for it is not forgiven without prior punishment; and except disbelief, for it is never forgiven at all. If it were interpreted as referring to one who deems killing lawful, then the contrast between it and disbelief would no longer remain”—that is, because deeming it lawful is disbelief, and there is no difference between deeming killing lawful and deeming any other sin lawful, since all of that is disbelief.

It must also be understood as applying where he has not repented. Otherwise, the one who repents from a sin is like one who has no sin. How could it be otherwise, when the killer and the one killed may both enter Paradise together—for example, when he kills him while he is a disbeliever, then embraces Islam and is himself killed?

512 — “On the Day of Resurrection, a neck will emerge from Hell. It will have two eyes with which it sees, two ears with which it hears, and a tongue with which it speaks. It will say: ‘I have been assigned to three: every tyrannical, obstinate person; everyone who calls upon another god besides Allah; and those who make images.’”

It was narrated by al-Tirmidhi (2/95) and Ahmad (2/336), through the route of ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Muslim, from al-A‘mash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it.

Al-Tirmidhi said: “A good, singular, authentic hadith.”

I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs.

Al-Tirmidhi then said: “Some have narrated it from al-A‘mash, from ‘Atiyyah, from Abu Sa‘id, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with wording similar to this. Ash‘ath ibn Sawwar also narrated it from ‘Atiyyah, from Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with similar wording.”

I say: Firas also narrated it from ‘Atiyyah, from Abu Sa‘id, likewise, except that he said: “and whoever killed