QUESTION ❓
Assalamu
Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
What is the Islamic ruling concerning a person who is forced or threatened with death and ordered to kill another person? If he carries out the killing because of the threat, is he considered guilty, and who bears the responsibility?
ANSWER ❗️
Wa
Alaikumussalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
This is a serious
matter in Islamic law, and it requires an important distinction between genuine
coercion (ikrāh) and ordinary pressure, fear or obedience to
another person's command.
The basic
principle is that it is not permissible for a person to deliberately
kill an innocent person merely to save himself from an unlawful threat.
Allah says:
وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ
إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ
Wa lā
taqtulū al-nafsa allatī ḥarrama Allāhu illā bil-ḥaqq.
“And do
not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden [to be killed], except with right.”
— Qur’an 17:33
The sanctity of
the victim's life does not disappear simply because another person has
threatened the perpetrator.
1. Genuine Coercion Does Not Make the Killing Lawful
Suppose a person
is told that he must kill an innocent person or face a serious threat himself.
He should not
deliberately kill the innocent person merely to save himself.
This is because
the person being threatened does not acquire the right to transfer the harm to
an innocent third party.
Islam places great
value on the protection of human life. Allah says:
وَمَن يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا مُّتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَاؤُهُ
جَهَنَّمُ خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ
عَذَابًا عَظِيمًا
Wa man
yaqtul mu’minan mutaʿammidan fa-jazā’uhu jahannamu khālidan fīhā wa ghaḍiba
Allāhu ʿalayhi wa laʿanahu wa aʿadda lahu ʿadhāban ʿaẓīmā.
“Whoever
deliberately kills a believer, his recompense is Hell, wherein he will remain,
and Allah has become angry with him, has cursed him, and has prepared for him a
great punishment.”
— Qur’an 4:93
This verse
demonstrates the gravity of deliberate unlawful killing.
2. The Hadith of the Two Muslims Who Fight
The Prophet ﷺ said:
إِذَا الْتَقَى الْمُسْلِمَانِ بِسَيْفَيْهِمَا
فَالْقَاتِلُ وَالْمَقْتُولُ فِي النَّارِ
Idhā
iltaqā al-muslimāni bisayfayhimā fa-al-qātilu wal-maqtūlu fī al-nār.
“When two
Muslims confront one another with their swords, both the killer and the one who
is killed will be in the Fire.”
The Companions
asked about the person who was killed, and the Prophet ﷺ explained that he too had intended to kill his opponent if he
had been able to.
— Ṣaḥīḥ
al-Bukhārī 31; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2888
This hadith
illustrates the seriousness of intentionally engaging in unlawful killing. It
should not, however, be used without qualification to declare that every person
who kills under every form of coercion receives exactly the same ruling.
3. What If Someone Is Ordered by a Powerful Person?
The fact that the
command comes from a superior, employer, commander, ruler, family
member or another powerful person does not by itself make an unlawful killing
permissible.
Obedience to a
human being cannot justify disobedience to Allah.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
لَا طَاعَةَ فِي مَعْصِيَةٍ، إِنَّمَا الطَّاعَةُ فِي
الْمَعْرُوفِ
Lā ṭāʿata
fī maʿṣiyah, innamā al-ṭāʿatu fī al-maʿrūf.
“There is
no obedience in disobedience; obedience is only in what is right.”
— Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 7257; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1840
Therefore, an
unlawful order to kill an innocent person must not be obeyed merely because it
comes from someone with authority.
4. But What If the Coercion Is Extreme?
This is where the
subject becomes a matter of detailed fiqh.
Islamic jurists
discussed ikrāh—coercion—and considered factors such as:
·
the seriousness and immediacy of the threat;
·
whether the person genuinely had no reasonable means of escape;
·
whether the threat was directed against his own life or involved
another grave harm;
·
whether he could avoid the killing without causing the threatened harm;
and
·
the circumstances surrounding the actual killing.
The jurists also
differed concerning the legal consequences for the direct perpetrator
and the person who forced or ordered the killing.
Therefore, it is
not accurate to issue a blanket ruling that every coerced killer must
necessarily receive qiṣāṣ, or that the person who issued the command will
automatically receive the same punishment.
Such a case must
be examined by a qualified judge or competent Islamic legal authority.
5. The Person Who Ordered the Killing Is Also Responsible for
His Conduct
The person who
threatens, coerces or orders another person to commit an unlawful killing is
not innocent simply because somebody else physically carried it out.
If he deliberately
causes an unlawful death, his responsibility can be extremely serious, and
Islamic jurisprudence contains detailed rules concerning the liability of the
instigator, direct perpetrator and other participants.
However, qiṣāṣ
is a legal judgment that belongs to the competent judicial authority,
not something that individuals may impose themselves.
6. What If the Killing Has Already Happened?
If someone has
already been involved in an unlawful killing, he should not despair of Allah's
mercy.
Allah says:
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَىٰ
أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ
Qul yā
ʿibādiya alladhīna asrafū ʿalā anfusihim lā taqnaṭū min raḥmatillāh.
“Say, ‘O
My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the
mercy of Allah.’”
— Qur’an 39:53
Sincere repentance
is required, together with addressing the rights of the victim and the victim's
family according to Islamic law. Where a death has occurred, the matter should
be taken to the appropriate legal or judicial authority rather than dealt with
privately.
Conclusion
A person cannot
ordinarily claim the right to kill an innocent person simply because someone
else has threatened to kill him.
However, the
detailed ruling concerning genuine coercion is a matter of Islamic
jurisprudence, and the legal consequences depend on the nature and
degree of the coercion and the circumstances of the killing. The responsibility
of the direct perpetrator and the person who compelled him must therefore be
assessed separately.
No individual is
entitled to impose qiṣāṣ or another criminal punishment on his
own. Such matters belong to a legitimate judicial authority.
If this question
concerns an actual incident rather than a hypothetical situation, the exact
circumstances should be presented to a qualified Islamic jurist and the
relevant legal authority.
Wallāhu
Taʿālā Aʿlam — And Allah knows best.
Zauren Fatawoyi Bisa Al-Qur’ani da Sunnah
ﺳُﺒﺤَﺎﻧَﻚَ ﺍﻟﻠَّﻬُﻢَّ ﻭَﺑِﺤَﻤْﺪِﻙَ ﺃﺷْﻬَﺪُ ﺃﻥ ﻟَﺎ ﺇِﻟَﻪَ ﺇِﻻَّ ﺃﻧْﺖَ ﺃﺳْﺘَﻐْﻔِﺮُﻙَ ﻭﺃَﺗُﻮﺏُ ﺇِﻟَﻴْﻚ
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