a slave, God Almighty shall free for every limb of it a limb of his from the Fire" (13). This is because if it is mandatory in accidental killing, it is more fitting in intentional killing; for the latter is greater in sin, larger in crime, and the need for the expiation of its guilt is greater. Our argument is the implication of His saying, the Almighty: "And whoever kills a believer by mistake - then the freeing of a believing slave." Then He mentioned intentional killing and did not necessitate an expiation for it, instead making its punishment Hell; the implication of this is that there is no expiation for it. It is narrated that [Al-Harith ibn] (14) Suwayd ibn al-Samit killed a man, so the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, ordered the retaliatory punishment (qawad) upon him and did not mandate an expiation. Furthermore, 'Amr ibn Umayyah al-Damri killed two men who were (15) under a covenant with the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, and the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, paid blood money for them and did [not command him to offer an expiation] (16). This is because it is an act that necessitates (17) the death penalty, so it does not necessitate an expiation, just like the adultery of a married person (zina al-muhsan). The hadith of Wathilah is susceptible to the interpretation that it was accidental, and he called it "obligatory" meaning that he had caused the loss of a life through killing. It is also possible that it was semi-intentional, or that he commanded them to free a slave as a voluntary act (tabarru'), and for this reason he commanded someone other than the killer to free a slave. The reasoning they provided is invalid; for it was made mandatory in accidental killing to erase the sin, as such a killing is not free from negligence; thus, it does not necessarily follow that it is mandatory in a case where the sin is greater (18), to the extent that it cannot be removed by it. Once this is established, there is no difference between intentional killing that necessitates retaliation and that for which there is no retaliation, such as a father killing his child, a master killing his slave, a free person killing a slave, or a Muslim killing a disbeliever; for this is all categorized as intentional.
Section: Expiation is mandatory in semi-intentional killing. I (19) am not aware of any specific opinion from our scholars regarding this, but
(13) Extracted by Abu Dawud, in: "Chapter on the Reward for Freeing a Slave," from the Book of Manumission, Sunan Abi Dawud 2/354. Also Imam Ahmad in: Al-Musnad 3/491. (14) A necessary addition. See the story in: Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra by Ibn Sa'd (Beirut) 3/552, 553, and Al-Sirah by Ibn Hisham 3/89. (15) Omitted from [M]. (16) In [M]: "he mandates an expiation." The hadith has already been mentioned in: 9/158. (17) In [B]: "a cause of." (18) In [B] there is an addition: "from him." (19) In [B]: "nor."
