Al-Miqdad bin Al-Aswad (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: I said, "Tell me, O Messenger of Allah, if I meet an infidel, and we fight together, and he cuts off my hands with his sword, then hides from me behind a tree and (then) says he has submitted himself to Allah. Shall I kill him after he has said it?" He (PBUH) replied, "Do not kill him." I submitted, "But O Messenger of Allah, he cut off one of my hands and only then he said it." Messenger of Allah (PBUH) then replied, "Do not kill him, for if you do so, he will be in the position in which you were before you killed him (i.e., he will be considered a Muslim and thus his life will be inviolable), and you will be in the position in which he was before he made his testimony (i.e., your life will not be inviolable, for his heirs can ask for Qisas)".[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
Commentary:
This Hadith tells us that injunctions of Islam will be enforced on a person according to his apparent condition not his insight. The reason being that nobody is capable of knowing the insight of others. When a person professes Islam, we have to accept him a Muslim; and it will be our duty to protect his life and property. If, in spite of knowing that his life and property are sacred, a Muslim murders him, then it will be quite fair for the heirs of the victim to have Qisas for the murder. If the murderer poses ignorance or takes shelter of some reason, then he will be liable for Diyah only. The Prophet (PBUH) arranged payment of Diyah to the heirs of the victim in the case mentioned in this Hadith because some of the Companions of the Prophet (PBUH) had advanced the argument that the murderer had slain the victim on the presumption that he had professed Islam just to save his life.
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