His saying, exalted is He:

﴿And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, abiding therein, and Allah is angry with him and has cursed him and prepared for him a great punishment﴾.

The term "intentionally" in the Arabic language means "aiming at something." Scholars have differed regarding the description of the intentional killer. It was said by 'Ata and Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, and others, that it refers to one who kills with a sharp object such as a sword, dagger, or spearhead, and similar items that are sharpened and prepared for cutting, or with something that he knows will cause death, like a heavy stone or the like. A group said: The intentional killer is anyone who kills, whether with a sharp object, a stone, a stick, or otherwise. This is the opinion of the majority, and it is the most correct. The view of al-Shafi'i and others is that killing with something other than a sharpened weapon is similar to intentional killing, and they see in it an increase in the blood money. Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, does not consider it similar to intentional killing and does not speak of it in any case. Rather, for him, killing is what Allah, exalted is He, mentioned as intentional and accidental, and nothing else. Killing with poison, in his view, is intentional, even if he says, "I only intended to intoxicate him."

His saying: "So his recompense is Hell" is interpreted by the people of the Sunnah as: His recompense, if he is punished for that, is that he is deserving of it and entitled to it due to the greatness of his sin. Abu Mijlaz, Abu Salih, and others have explicitly stated this. This is based on the saying of the will in all sinners, whether a killer or otherwise. The Mu'tazila went to the generality of this verse and that it is specified by its generality by His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills﴾ [An-Nisa: 48]. They relied on what was narrated from Zayd ibn Thabit that he said: The severe verse was revealed after the light verse, meaning that the verse ﴿And whoever kills a believer intentionally﴾ was revealed after ﴿And He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills﴾ [An-Nisa: 48]. They see that this warning is certainly applicable to every killer who kills a believer, and they see it as a generality that applies to its face, specifying the generality in His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills﴾ [An-Nisa: 48], as if He said: Except for one who kills intentionally.

Judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And the people of truth say to them: This generality is rejected and does not apply to its face for two reasons: One of them is that you are all in agreement with us regarding the man who is testified against or admits to intentional killing, and the sultan or the guardians come and the punishment is established against him, and he is killed as retribution. This is not followed in the Hereafter, and the warning is not applicable to him by consensus, based on the authentic hadith from 'Abadah ibn al-Samit: "Whoever is punished in this world, it is an expiation for him." This is a refutation of the generality. The other reason is that the wording of this verse is not of a general wording, but rather a shared wording that often applies to specificity, like His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, then those are the disbelievers﴾ [Al-Ma'idah: 44]. And the judges of the believers, if they judge by other than the truth in a matter, are not disbelievers in any way, and like the saying of the poet:

And whoever does not defend his pond with his weapon will be destroyed, and whoever does not wrong the people will be wronged.

And this, its meaning is specificity, because not everyone who does not wrong is wronged. This is another aspect that indicates that the generality is not established. What they argued with from the saying of Zayd ibn Thabit is not as they mentioned. Rather, Zayd meant that this verse was revealed after the Surah [Al-Furqan]. And his intention by 'the lenient' is his saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿And they do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden except by right﴾ [Al-Furqan: 68]. And although Al-Mahdawi has narrated from him that he said: The verse ﴿And whoever kills a believer intentionally﴾ was revealed after His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿Indeed, Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him﴾ [An-Nisa: 48] by four months, if specificity enters, then the aspect is that this verse is specific to the disbeliever who kills the believer. As for what has been narrated that it was revealed concerning the affair of Miqyas ibn Subabah when he killed his brother Hisham ibn Subabah, a man from the Ansar, and the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, took the blood money for him, then he sent him with a man from Fihri after that on some matter, Miqyas attacked him and killed him, and he returned to Mecca as an apostate, and he began to recite:

I killed Fihri and carried his blood money The leaders of Banu Najjar, the noble ones.

I settled my debt and caught my revenge And I was the first to return to the idols.

The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "I do not grant him safety in a state of peace or in the sanctuary," and he ordered for his killing on the day of the conquest of Mecca while he was clinging to the Kaaba. Or it could be as has been narrated from Ibn Abbas that he said: "Intentionally" means: considering it permissible to kill him. This also leads to disbelief. As for the believer who has been decreed in the knowledge of Allah that he will be punished for his disobedience, as we have previously explained in the interpretation, then his recompense - if he is recompensed - and his saying: "abiding" if it is in the believer means remaining for a long period in a manner similar to their supplication for the kings (p-634) for eternity and the like. And this indicates the fall of his saying: -forever- for indeed, eternity is not associated with permanence except in the mention of the disbelievers.

The scholars differed regarding the acceptance of the repentance of the killer. A group holds that his repentance is not accepted. This has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, Ibn Mas'ud, and Ibn Umar. Ibn Abbas used to say: "Shirk and killing are both ambiguous; whoever dies upon them will be eternally punished." He also said: "This verse is Medinan and abrogates the verse in Al-Furqan, as Al-Furqan is Meccan." The majority holds that his repentance is accepted. It has been narrated from some scholars that they sometimes intended to be severe and frightening, so they would say: "The repentance of the killer is not accepted." Among them was Ibn Shihab, who, if someone asked him and he understood that he had killed, would say to him: "Your repentance is accepted." But if someone asked him who had not killed, he would say: "There is no repentance for the killer." Among them was Ibn Abbas, who was reported in the Tafsir of Abd Ibn Humayd that a man asked him: "Is there repentance for the killer?" He said to him: "There is no repentance for the killer, and his punishment is Hellfire." When the questioner left, his companions said to him: "This is not how we knew you to say, except that there is repentance for the killer." He said to them: "I saw him angry, and I suspect he intends to kill." They stood up and sought him out and inquired about him, and indeed he was like that. And Hibatullah mentioned in his book 'The Abrogating and Abrogated' that this verse is abrogated by His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills﴾ [An-Nisa: 48]. He said: "This is the consensus of the people except for Ibn Abbas and Ibn Umar, for they said: It is definitive."

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And in what Hibatullah said, there is consideration, for it is a matter of generality and specification, not a matter of abrogation. He only constructed his words based on the differing opinions of the people regarding the acceptance of the repentance of the killer, and Allah knows best.