And when it was established that the condition for lifting sin from the one who is compelled is to refrain from transgression, and that transgression in that and in other matters may lead to killing, and this was followed by what it necessitated, as previously mentioned, until he concluded with this verse and ended it by praising patience and truthfulness in the claim of faith and fulfilling the covenant, and everything was included in what the people of the Book feared regarding the covenant, the matter of shedding blood, so they altered it all or part of it, as He, glorified and exalted is He, indicated by His saying: ﴿And when We took your covenant, do not shed your blood﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 84] and the verses. And patience in giving one’s soul is the greatest patience, and acting upon it is the greatest affirmation of faith, and submission to retribution is the most fulfilling of the covenant. He informed the believers of what was obligatory upon them regarding that and what follows it. So He, exalted is He, said, delighting them with His address: ﴿O you who have believed﴾, meaning those who claim faith with their tongues. And when the adjustment occurred through it, it was previously established from the discipline, so the addressed ones knew that the ruling is indeed for Allah. He built for the unknown His saying: ﴿It has been decreed upon you﴾, meaning it is obligatory (p-22) in the Book, and you have heard My warning to those who differed in the Book. And what specified the intention of the obligation is that the writing has become widespread in the Shari'ah in its meaning, and the expression by which it is indicated is through ﴿Retribution﴾, meaning equality in killing and injuries, because it is from al-qas, which is the pursuit of the trace. Harali said: It is as if he follows the offender (p-23) in pursuit of what he has committed, so he follows the consequence of his punishment in pursuit of his crime - this has ended. ﴿In the killing﴾, meaning in all matters of killing. So whoever kills with something, he is killed by it, and whoever kills in a certain manner, he is killed similarly. If he has cut off a hand, and it extends to the soul, then he is to be executed. If it extends, otherwise we would have cut off his neck so that the verse would be general but specified in some cases. And whenever it is not stated in general, it is summarized, and specification is preferable to generality. So affirm your claim of faith from what the imams do in fulfilling it and others by submitting to it, and do not be like the people of the Book who differed in their Book, believing in some of it and disbelieving in some of it. And also when He mentioned giving wealth out of love for it, and He had mentioned that the righteous is the one who believes in the Book, and it was from the Book to give one’s soul, the love of which is known, He followed it with a reference that wealth is its equivalent and is not given for the sake of (p-24) Allah except with pure faith, just as the soul is not given except for that.

And when the people of the Book had altered the ruling of the Torah regarding retribution, which was indicated in the verse of Al-Ma'idah that justice was prescribed for them in it, those among them who were stronger gave their people a preference in that matter. The Banu al-Nadir, as Ibn Hisham narrated in the Sirah, would take the full blood money for their slain, while the Banu Qurayzah would take half the blood money. Some of them, as al-Baghawi narrated in Surah Al-Ma'idah from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, would kill a soul for a soul. Glorified and exalted is He indicated their opposition in this injustice, clarifying equality: 'The free for the free.' And a slave is not to be killed for a free person, because that is not more rightful than the mentioned ruling, nor is it equal to killing a slave for it, because it is more rightful, nor by the ruling, for it is understood in agreement.

And when He presented this for its nobility, He followed it with His saying: 'And a slave for a slave,' magnifying the male. Likewise, a free person is to be killed for a free person because it is more rightful, and a free person is not to be killed for a slave because he is not equal to the ruling. 'And a female for a female,' and a female is to be killed for a male and a male for her, because each of them is equal to the other, in accordance with the original supported by His words, blessings and peace be upon him, 'Women are the counterparts of men.' This is precautionary for the blood, the violation of which is among the greatest sins after polytheism. The blood money is reduced by half if it is in place of blood, in accordance with His saying: 'And for men is a degree over them.' [Al-Baqarah: 228] And it is a reminder of the degradation of the sanctity of wealth compared to the sanctity of blood, so that the meaning of the verse is understood that no one is to be killed for the slain except his killer. And if you contemplate His saying 'the slain' without saying 'the killing,' you would know that.

Al-Harali said: Because taking from someone other than the aggressor is not retribution but a second aggression, and the contagion is not lifted by contagion; rather, contagion is lifted by retribution alone - this is the end.

Likewise, taking from someone other than the equal is aggression, so a Muslim is not to be killed for a disbeliever according to what retribution implies, and the ruling is restricted to the people of faith along with His saying, glorified and exalted is He, 'The companions of the Fire are not equal to the companions of Paradise.' [Al-Hashr: 20] in similar verses.

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, opened for us the door of mercy with retribution, alerting to the reproach of the people of the Book, and that was from the ruling of the Torah but in a mandatory manner, and the pardon was likewise for the Christians. He also manifested in Al-Furqan an increase in the allowance by lifting this burden from us with the choice between them.

Al-Harali said: Transferring from the punishment of the Hereafter to the trial of this world, and transferring from the trial of this world in blood to expiation by taking a share of wealth, as was the case in the first ransom for the slaughter of Ibrahim, peace be upon him, from his son. He said: 'So whoever is pardoned for his wrongdoing,' from the pardon, which comes without effort or coercion - this is the end.

And he expressed with the passive construction as a reference to the fact that the ruling follows the pardon from any pardoner who has the pardon in something of the truth, even if it is small. This is the meaning of His saying: ﴿from his brother something﴾, meaning any matter that is from the pardon by descending from the demand for blood to the blood money. In the expression with the word brother, as Al-Harali said, there is a unification between the perpetrator and the victim and their guardians in that ﴿and it is not for a believer to kill a believer except by mistake﴾ [An-Nisa: 92]. And if it is not a mistake of nature, then it is a mistake of intention in that he did not intend to kill a believer; rather, he intended to kill an enemy, a reviler, or an aggressor against his family, property, or child.

So when the veil of nature is lifted, he returns to the brotherhood of faith. ﴿So following﴾ means that the matter in that is following from the guardian of the blood ﴿with kindness﴾. In it, there is a settling of the soul to break away from the severity of what the grudges of the crimes draw towards it. And the kindness is what is witnessed directly for its conformity and by the acceptance of its position among the souls, so it does not incur any denial from it.

And when he commanded the follower the matter of the performer, he said: ﴿And a performance to him with goodness﴾ so that he does not combine between his crime or the crime of his guardian and the bad judgment. And in informing him, there is an obligation for the guardians of the perpetrator to be humble, submissive, and fair to the guardians of the killed with what they have of authority ﴿Indeed, We have made for his guardian an authority﴾ [Al-Isra: 33]. So they should observe in them the mercy of Allah which He has had mercy upon them with, so the perpetrator is not taken for his crime - it has ended.

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, expanded for us with this ruling, He pointed out its reason as a glorification of the blessing. He said: ﴿That﴾, meaning the great matter, is kindness, which is the choice between retribution and pardon freely and for the blood money. ﴿A relief﴾ means from the fighting and its guardians ﴿from your Lord﴾, the Benefactor to you with this lenient religion and this beautiful ruling. And He gathered the pronoun in consideration, as Al-Harali said, for both sides, because each group is exposed to inflict upon the other - it has ended.

﴿And mercy﴾ for the guardians of the killed with the blood money and for others with the pardon from the blood. Al-Bukhari narrated in the tafsir from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, who said: There was in the Children of Israel retribution and there was no blood money among them. So whoever is pardoned for something from his brother, meaning he accepts the blood money for intentional killing, that is a relief from your Lord and a mercy from what He has decreed upon those who were before you. So whoever transgresses after that is killed after accepting the blood money - it has ended.

The people of tafsir said: It was prescribed for the Jews retribution, and it was forbidden for them to accept blood money or pardon. For the Christians, pardon was permitted, and it was forbidden for them to accept blood money. Since this is a great favor that resulted in a threat to whoever rejected it, Allah, the Most High, said: ﴿So whoever transgresses﴾, meaning by killing, ﴿after that﴾, meaning after the choice and pardon, even if the one pardoning is someone else, ﴿for him is a painful punishment﴾ for his killing or taking blood money from him as recompense for his enmity in proportion to it and his transgression by which he indicated his rejection of this concession that the owner of the kingdom ruled regarding his slaves, the king whose disobedience is not permissible. In naming his punishment as torment and not specifying it to one of the two abodes, there is an indication of its prevalence in both as a means of severity against him.

Al-Harali said: And in the verse is evidence that the intentional killer does not become a disbeliever by that. Al-Asbahani said: Ibn Abbas said: The killer was named in the beginning of the verse as a believer and in the middle as a brother, and the end of it did not despair him of relief and mercy.