This page includes five instances of the use of An-Nisa 92 in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, where it appears as a foundation for accidental killing and the mitigation and punishment that accompany it. Its centrality comes from the fact that it links unintentional error to lighter penal alternatives, while highlighting the meaning of freeing a neck within this context.
Verse text as cited
وَمَنْ قَتَلَ مُؤْمِنًا خَطَأً فَتَحْرِيرُ رَقَبَةٍ مُؤْمِنَةٍ …
Brief reading
Shahrur reads the verse as an example of gradation in penalty in cases of accidental killing, not intentional killing. He therefore connects it to freeing a neck and to fasting for two consecutive months, and derives from it the meaning of a minimum penalty, in harmony with his view of mitigation in this area.
Axes
- Legislative
- Humanitarian and ethical
- Political and social
Related concepts
- accidental killing: 3
- killing by mistake: 2
- freeing a neck: 2
- minimum: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
The verse enters into a network that brings together accidental killing, emancipation, and the minimum penalty. Here it is among the verses invoked whenever there is discussion of legislative mitigation and the preservation of social life, because the text itself opens the door to distinguishing between mistake and intent.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Example: 2
- Support: 2
- Foundation: 1
Summary of its presence in the atlas
- A main axis in accidental killing
- Linked to freeing a neck and to mitigation
- Used to affirm the minimum in punishment
Instances of use
- Islam and Human: Used as an example of unintentional error that does not rise to the level of deliberate sin.
- Concept: killing by mistake
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual citation: «{ وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ أَنْ يَقْتُلَ مُؤْمِنًا إِلَّا خَطَأً… } (النساء ٩٢)»
- The State and Society, p. 259: Mentioned among the texts of emancipation to show that the message encouraged the freeing of necks gradually.
- Concept: freeing a neck
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: «- {وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ أَنْ يَقْتُلَ مُؤْمِنًا إِلَّا خَطَأً …} (النساء 92).»
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 389: Cited to argue that the Muhammadan message lightened the punishment and distinguished between accidental and intentional killing, unlike earlier legislation.
- Concept: accidental killing
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: «– {وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ أَنْ يَقْتُلَ مُؤْمِنًا إِلَّا خَطَأً …} (النساء ٩٢ و٩٣)»
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 414: Makes the verse a model for the minimum penalty in accidental killing, and derives from it the principle of graduated punishment according to capacity and circumstances.
- Concept: minimum
- Function of the verse here: Foundation
- Textual citation: «أما في حالة القتل الخطأ فقد جاء الحد الأدنى لعقوبتها في قوله تعالى… {فمن لم يجد فصيام شهرين متتابعين} ووضع الحد الأدنى في عبارة»
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 53: Uses it to show that the Muhammadan message mitigated the rulings of accidental killing compared with what is found in earlier laws.
- Concept: accidental killing
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual citation: «فخفضت العقوبة إلى صيام شهرين متتاليين … وذلك في قوله – تعالى –: {وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ أَنْ يَقْتُلَ مُؤْمِنًا إِلَّا خَطَأً …}»
Related books
This page is presented within the general method of building the atlas.