Any one who kills a believer intentionally will be cast into Hell to abide there for ever, and suffer God's anger and damnation. For him a greater punishment awaits.
93
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : then allah revealed about miqyas ibn sababah, the killer of al-fihri, the emissary of allah's messenger (pbuh) who, after taking the blood money for the killing of his brother hisham ibn sababah, left islam and fled to mecca, saying: (whoso slayeth a believer of set purpose, his reward is hell) for this wilful killing (for ever) due to his idolatry. (allah is wroth against him) for taking the blood money (and he hath cursed him) because he killed a person who did not kill his brother (and prepared for him an awful doom) because of his boldness towards allah.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : and whoever slays a believer deliberately, intending to kill him, with something that is lethal, aware of the fact that he [the slain] is a believer, his requital is hell, abiding therein, and god is wroth with him and has cursed him, he has removed him from his mercy, and has prepared for him a mighty chastisement, in the fire: this may be explained as [referring to] the person that deems such [killing] licit, or as being his requital if he were to be requited, but it would not be anything new if this threat [of punishment] were to be forgone, because of what he says: other than that [that is, idolatry] he forgives whomever he will [q. 4:48]. it is reported from ibn ‘abbās that it [the verse] should be understood as it stands, abrogating other verses of ‘forgiveness’. the verse in [sūrat] al-baqara [q. 2:178] clearly indicates that the one who kills deliberately should be killed in return, or if he is pardoned then he has to pay the blood-money, the value of which has already been mentioned. it is made clear in the sunna that between the intentional and the unintentional, there is a type of killing that is identified as [being with] quasi-deliberate intent (shibh al-‘amd), where the killer has slain with what in most cases is not [a] lethal [implement]. in such a case, there is no [right to] retaliation and blood-money is paid instead, so that it [this type of killing] is described as intentional, but [considered] unintentional in [that there applies] the fixing of the period [for payment] and the sharing of the burden [by the killer’s clan]; in this [case] and that of intentional killing redemption is more urgent than in unintentional killing.
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (whoso slayeth a believer of set purpose…) [4:93].
said ibn ‘abbas, according to the report of al-kalbi from abu salih: “maqis ibn subabah, who was muslim, found his brother hisham murdered at banu’l-najjar. he went to the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, and mentioned what had happened to him. the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, sent with him an emissary from banu fihr and said to him: ‘go to banu’l-najjar, greet them with the greeting of peace and say to them: ‘the messenger of allah, allah bless him and give him peace, commands you, if you know the killer of hisham ibn subabah, to hand him over to his brother to exact his retaliation; and if you do not know the killer, to pay him the blood money’. ‘the man from fihr conveyed to them the message of the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, and they said: ‘we hear and obey allah and his messenger. by allah, we do not know who the killer is, but we are willing to pay the blood money’. they gave him one hundred camels and they headed toward medina. when they were very close to medina, the devil whispered to miqyas: ‘what have you done? your acceptance of your brother’s blood money will be a slur on you. kill the person who is with you and it would be as if you have avenged your brother in surplus of the blood money’. miqyas did just that. he fractured the skull of the man from fihr with a rock, rode a camel and drove away the rest to mecca. he went back to mecca as a disbeliever.
through him i avenged fihr and charged his blood-wit
to the chiefs of banu’l-najjar, the lords of fari‘ castle.
by killing him i gave vent to my vengeance and eased my tension,
and was the first to return to the idols.
this verse was then revealed (whoso slayeth a believer of set purpose…). the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, sentenced him to death upon the conquest of mecca. he was chased and captured by some people in the market place and executed”.
