188 - Muhammad ibn Abi Harun, al-Hasan ibn Jahdar, and al-Hasan ibn Abd al-Wahhab informed me, all of whom heard from al-Hasan ibn Thawab, who said: I said to Abu Abd Allah (Ahmad ibn Hanbal): I asked al-Zubayri about the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: "Whoever is killed while defending his property is a martyr," and the statement of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: "If two Muslims meet with their swords and one kills the other, the killer and the killed are in the Fire." Al-Zubayri said: What do you say about a Roman (Byzantine) if he meets you and you kill him, do you not have a reward in that? I said: Yes. He said: And if he kills you? I said: I am a martyr. He said: Likewise is the thief if he meets you. If we were to place him in the status of a Muslim, you would never be written as a martyr; however, he is placed in the status of an infidel (kafir), and that is why it is said: "Whoever is killed while defending his property is a martyr." When I narrated this to Abu Abd Allah, he said to me: What if a man met you without any manifest hostility and said: "Put down your garment, otherwise I will strike you with the sword," and you refused, then you attacked him and struck him a blow while you did not know whether he would die from it or not, and he died—what is upon you for that, and you did not know when he said to you "If you put down your garment, otherwise I will strike you with the sword," whether he would actually do it or not? What do you see in it if you killed him? Al-Hasan ibn Abd al-Wahhab said: He said: "What do you see in killing him if I killed him?" I said: Nothing, if he was a thief. He said: Yes, his blood is deemed of no consequence (uncompensated).