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Draft:Verse 32 of Sura al-Ma'ida

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Verse 32 of Sura al-Ma'ida
Verse's Information
SuraSura al-Ma'ida (Qur'an 5)
Verse32
Juz'6
TopicThe importance of an innocent human life


Qur'an 5:32 expresses the importance of human life, such that killing an innocent individual is considered like killing all humans and saving one human is equivalent to saving all humans. 'Abd Allah Jawadi Amuli considers this verse to be concerned with human rights, and according to Nasir Makarim Shirazi, although the verse reports the implementation of this decree upon the Children of Israel, this decree is not exclusive to them.

Exegetes have mentioned numerous aspects regarding the cause of this decree. al-Shaykh al-Tusi in al-Tibyan mentioned six points, al-Tabrisi in Majma' al-bayan provided five answers, and Fadil al-Miqdad in Kanz al-irfan pointed to four cases. Among these answers is that the potential for killing all humans exists in someone who kills one innocent person, and according to some exegetes, the killing of one innocent person in society causes the normalization of murder.

According to al-Sayyid Muhammad Husayn al-Tabataba'i, this equality does not mean that the otherworldly punishment for killing several innocent individuals is the same as the punishment for killing one person. Relying on a statement from Imam al-Sadiq (a), he believes that the punishment of a killer of one human with the killer of several humans is shared in its type, but the one who has killed more is entitled to a greater amount of that same type of punishment.

General Points

Qur'an 5:32 refers to the value of an innocent human life and states that killing an innocent human is as reprehensible as the murder of all humans, and saving the life of one human has a value like saving all of humanity. This verse appears after the story of the murder of Abel by Cain and states that because of the murder of Abel, God ordained for the Children of Israel that killing humans without cause and saving them from death are each as valuable as the murder and saving of all humanity. At the end of the verse, reference is also made to the law-breaking of the Children of Israel and their indifference toward the prophets.[1]

According to a hadith from the Infallibles (a), the meaning of "excess" (israf) in the verse is considering forbidden things as lawful and shedding human blood.[2] According to some narrations, the meaning of "giving life" (ihya') to humans includes matters such as saving from fire and drowning,[3] bringing one from poverty to wealth,[4] and leading one from kufr to faith.[5] In a narration, saving a human from ideological misguidance is considered the greatest interpretation of the verse.[6]

The Verse is Not Exclusive to the Children of Israel

Exegetes, including Nasir Makarim Shirazi and 'Abd Allah Jawadi Amuli, have specified that this decree is not exclusive to the Children of Israel.[7] They have considered the mention of the name of the Children of Israel to be because murder and bloodshed, especially murders stemming from jealousy, were frequent among them.[8] Muhammad Jawad Maghniyya has also cited expressions in the Torah that permit the killing of women and children, the killing of prophets in the past by the people of the Children of Israel, and their behavior with the people of Palestine in the 20th century CE as evidence for this claim.[9]

According to 'Allama Tabataba'i, some have taken the appearance of the name of the Children of Israel in this verse as a reason for the fact that Qur'an 5:27 to Qur'an 5:31 were about the children of an individual from among the Children of Israel named Adam, not Adam, the father of mankind. He subsequently provides three reasons that these verses relate to the sons of Prophet Adam and has rejected the opposing theory.[10]

How is the Killing or Saving of One Person Considered Equal to All Humans?

Exegetes have mentioned numerous aspects regarding the cause of this decree. In al-Tibyan, six answers, in Majma' al-bayan, five answers, and in Kanz al-irfan, four answers have been given to this issue, but Nasir Makarim Shirazi has considered some of them very far from the meaning of the verse.[11] 'Abd Allah Jawadi Amuli, the Shi'a exegete and philosopher, considered the verse to be concerned with human rights and stated that someone who kills a human has actually damaged the principle of common humanity among humans.[12] Some of the matters mentioned in justifying the equality of one person with all individuals are as follows:

  1. The killer of an innocent person has the readiness to kill all humans; likewise, someone who, for the sake of altruism and human emotion, saves one person, has the readiness to save all humans.[13]
  2. The murder of an innocent person makes other murders appear easy and is the promoter of an evil tradition.[14]
  3. Human society is like the members of a single body.[15]
  4. 'Abd Allah b. Mas'ud and a group of the Sahaba believe that from the perspective of the murdered, the killer has killed everyone, and by saving one person, it is as if he has given life to everyone in their eyes.[16]
  5. According to the belief of 'Abd Allah b. 'Abbas, the single individual whose murder is equivalent to killing all humans and whose saving is equivalent to saving all of them is a prophet or a just Imam.[17]

Is the Punishment for Killing Several People Equal to One Person?

In the book Tafsir Ahl al-Bayt (a), eighteen hadiths have been entered regarding this verse.[18] According to some of these narrations, the meaning of the equality of killing one with everyone is equality in otherworldly punishment.[19] In a hadith, Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a) says in response to a question that the punishment for a killer of more than one person is doubled.[20] Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i, in explaining this hadith, says that the killer of one person and the killer of several or everyone are in one station, but in that same station, the amount of punishment is different. Therefore, the equality is in the type of punishment, not its amount. Furthermore, the narration of Hannan b. Sadir also reports a generic equality, not in amount.[21]

Notes

  1. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tarjuma-yi Qurʾān, 1373 SH, pp. 112–113.
  2. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 3, p. 504.
  3. ↑ Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1407 AH, vol. 2, p. 210.
  4. ↑ Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, 1363 SH, vol. 1, p. 167.
  5. ↑ ʿAyyāshī, Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, 1380 AH, vol. 1, p. 313.
  6. ↑ Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1407 AH, vol. 2, p. 210.
  7. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1371 SH, vol. 4, p. 357; Jawādī Āmulī, Tasnīm, 1391 SH, vol. 22, p. 358.
  8. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1371 SH, vol. 4, p. 357; Jawādī Āmulī, Tasnīm, 1391 SH, vol. 22, p. 359.
  9. ↑ Maghniyya, Tafsīr al-kāshif, 1378 SH, vol. 3, p. 81.
  10. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 1374 SH, vol. 5, p. 486.
  11. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1371 SH, vol. 4, p. 355.
  12. ↑ Jawādī Āmulī, Tasnīm, 1391 SH, vol. 22, p. 364.
  13. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1371 SH, vol. 4, p. 355.
  14. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 3, p. 502; Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 1372 SH, vol. 3, p. 289.
  15. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1371 SH, vol. 4, p. 356.
  16. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 1372 SH, vol. 3, p. 289.
  17. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 3, p. 503.
  18. ↑ Barāzish, Tafsīr Ahl al-Bayt (a), 1394 SH, vol. 4, pp. 9–18.
  19. ↑ Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1407 AH, vol. 7, pp. 271–272; Shaykh al-Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 4, p. 94.
  20. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 1374 SH, vol. 5, p. 525.
  21. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 1374 SH, vol. 5, p. 526.

References

  • Barāzish, ʿAlī Riḍā. Tafsīr Ahl al-Bayt (a). Tehran, Amīr Kabīr, 1st edition, 1394 SH.
  • ʿAyyāshī, Muḥammad b. Masʿūd al-. Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī. Tehran, al-Maktabat al-ʿIlmiyya al-Islāmiyya, 1380 AH.
  • Qummī, ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-. Tafsīr al-Qummī. Qom, Dār al-Kitāb, 3rd edition, 1363 SH.
  • Shaykh al-Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh. Qom, Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn, 2nd edition, 1413 AH.
  • Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Translated by al-Sayyid Muḥammad Bāqir Mūsawī. Qom, Daftār-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1374 SH.
  • Ṭabrisī, al-Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Tafsīr jawāmiʿ al-jāmiʿ. Qom, Markaz-i Mudīriyyat-i Ḥawza-yi ʿIlmiyya-yi Qom, 1st edition, 1412 AH.
  • Ṭabrisī, al-Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom, Nāṣir Khusraw, 3rd edition, 1372 SH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
  • Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-. al-Kāfī. Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 4th edition, 1407 AH.
  • Maghniyya, Muḥammad Jawād. Tafsīr al-kāshif. Translated by Mūsā Dānish. Qom, Būstān-i Kitāb-i Qom, 1378 SH.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tarjuma-yi Qurʾān. Qom, Daftār-i Muṭālaʿāt-i Tārīkh wa Maʿārif-i Islāmī, 2nd edition, 1373 SH.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 10th edition, 1371 SH.
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