Wednesday, 29 April 2026 (12 Dhuʻl-Qiʻdah 1447 AH)
Question: Two men fired bullets at a man, and he was killed by the bullet of one of them. It then became clear that the slain man was an adversary of one of them, inasmuch as his son had killed the brother of one of the two men. At the time of reconciliation, one of the two men who had fired the shots swore that he was not the killer and that the killer was his companion, and he did so in order to shut the door to tribulation. When he swore, the two tribes made peace and regarded (this) slain man in exchange for the (previously) slain man. What is required of the one who swore, although he wants to extricate himself, while he does not know whether it was his bullet that struck the slain man or the bullet of his companion, and although the parties to the claim have already reconciled?
The answer – and Allah is the One who grants success – is that what is required is repentance to Allah and remorse for what he undertook of killing and of taking an oath. After the reconciliation of the two sides and their being content with slain-for-slain, there is no blood-money due from him and no qiṣāṣ, and nothing is required of him except repentance, as we have mentioned.
We have derived that from His saying, exalted is He: “And if two groups among the believers fight, then make peace between them…” [al-Ḥujurāt:9], for His saying, exalted is He, “then make peace between them” indicates that reconciliation is sufficient for discharge of liability.
This is supported by His saying, exalted is He, after that: “But if one of them oppresses the other…” [al-Ḥujurāt:9], for that indicates that reconciliation is sufficient for discharge of liability and the dropping of all rights – qiṣāṣ in life and less than life, and the guarantee of property. This is in addition to the basic presumption of freedom of liability, so he is not to be ruled a killer.
Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.2