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English translation
4730. It was narrated from 'Alqamah bin Wâ'il that his father said: "I was sitting with the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ when a man came with a string around his neck and said: 'O Messenger of Allâh, this man and my brother were digging a hole, and he raised his pickax and struck his companion in the head, killing him.' The Prophet ﷺ said: 'Forgive him,' but he refused and said: 'O Prophet of Allâh, this man and my brother
were digging a hole, and he raised his pickax and struck his companion in the head, killing him.' The Prophet ﷺ said: 'Forgive him,' but he refused, then he stood up and said: 'O Messenger of Allâh, this man and my brother were digging a hole, and he raised his pickax and struck his companion in the head, killing him.' The Prophet ﷺ said: 'Forgive him,' but he refused. He (the Prophet ﷺ) said: 'Go, but if you kill him, you will be like him.' So he took him out, and they called out to him: 'Didn't you hear what the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ said?' So he came back and he said: 'If I kill him will I be like him?' He said: 'Yes. Forgive him.' Then he went out, dragging his string, until he disappeared from our view."
(Ṣaḥīḥ)
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Footnotes
1
[1] Meaning, Jâmi' bin Ma'ar from whom he heard this version, is better as a narrator than 'Awf bin Abî Jamîlah, from whom he heard the previous narration.
Commentary
The apparent connotation is: If you kill him, then you would also become an illegitimate killer, but this signification is not meant here, because killing a killer is not a crime. So far as the statement of the killer that it was not his intention to kill is concerned, only Allâh, Most High, is aware of the intention. But the gist of the Prophet's ﷺ saying was that you would not gain any superiority over him.
