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The word fitnah includes meanings like
deviation, confusion of the mind, differing, falling for
something, sinning, disbelief, dazzling beauty, property and
children, testing someone, torture, misfortune, or trouble.
In nearly sixty verses of the Qur'an, we
find either this word or another word that is derived from
the same root. While even a disagreement between two people
can be called fitnah, acts aiming to spread
disbelief, turning people from the path of Allah the
Almighty, and causing terror in society are also categorized
as fitnah. Making two people dislike each other is fitnah
and this is an abhorrent sin; but there is also another type
of fitnah that is so bad that it invokes divine
wrath. It cannot be regarded as equal to other types of fitnah,
for it can instantly make someone fall into a pit of
Hellfire and end their happiness in both worlds.
Therefore, in order not to face such a
terrible end, we need to keep away from even the pettiest
kind of fitnah and eliminate the words and actions
that may lead to it from the very beginning before they
become great crimes.
The Qur'an states that {Fitnah
is worse than killing…}. (Al-Baqarah 2:191) That is to
say, even if various kinds of fitnah are not like
killing, there is a type of fitnah that is even worse
than murder. For instance, trying to spread disbelief
through brute force, alienating Muslims from their values,
and making younger generations strangers to their spiritual
values, thereby throwing them into a terrible torment in
both worlds, are all grave offenses that are far more
dangerous than murdering an innocent person.
In some cases of murder, there is both fitnah
and murder intermingled. For example, somebody assassinates
an important figure and then disappears. After that, an
innocent person or a group is blamed for that murder. In
this way, the situation becomes a blood feud. Both the
supporters of the victim and the slandered group suffer.
Thus, the murder is not limited to a single event; it is
followed by mutual accusations and it becomes a great fitnah.
Finally, an unstoppable chain of fitnahs is ignited,
and results in a condition of anarchy where thousands of
murders are committed.
Unfortunately, this kind of fitnah
has taken place in the history of Islam and such acts have
yielded far worse results than one single murder. For
instance, the assassination of the second Caliph, `Umar ibn
Al-Khattab, was not just a simple murder; even more so
since, as Hudhaifah Al-Yamani reported: `Umar was a locked
door against fitnah. After his martyrdom, that door
was opened; more correctly, it was broken down. Here we will
examine this event in more detail.
One day, `Umar ibn Al-Khattab asked
Hudhaifah about the words of the Messenger of Allah (peace
and blessings be upon him) describing fitnah that
surges like the waves of the sea. Hudhaifah answered:
"O Commander of the believers, there is no harm on you
from this fitnah; for there is a locked door between
it and you." When `Umar asked: "Is that door going
to open or be broken down?" Hudhaifah answered:
"It is going to be broken down." `Umar then
commented: "Then it will not be locked again until the
end of the world." When one of his friends asked about
that door, Hudhaifah's answer was: "That door is `Umar
himself."
In this respect, the assassination of `Umar
cannot be taken as an ordinary murder; it was the breaking
down of the door that blocked fitnah, and the opening
of the way for fitnah to continue until the end of
the world. The Qur'an mentions the condition of the person
who murders an innocent person, stating that he will stay in
Hellfire forever. Therefore, this must also encompass
murderers like Umar's assassin.
Ibn `Abbas and some of the imams from the
generation following the Companions of the Prophet (peace
and blessings be upon him) inferred from the following verse
that somebody who commits murder will suffer eternal
punishment in Hellfire:
{Whoever kills a
believer intentionally, his recompense (in the Hereafter) is
Hellfire, therein to abide; and Allah has utterly condemned
him, excluded him from His mercy, and prepared for him a
tremendous punishment} (An-Nisaa’ 4:93)
Some interpreters of the Qur'an have
commented differently: In the same way that a murderer
deserves to be executed in return for the crime he
committed, the same punishment must be given to the person
who killed all mankind. There is no greater punishment to be
given. Likewise, as the punishment of the murderer of a
single person is eternal Hellfire, the punishment of the
person who has murdered all mankind must be the same.
Therefore, a person who has murdered a single person is like
the one who has murdered all mankind.
The divine statement: {Assuredly Allah
does not forgive that partners be associated with Him; less
than that He forgives to whomever He wills} (An-Nisaa'
4:48) limits the meaning of the verse that was mentioned
above. However, when we look at the whole issue, we see that
even if it is not true that every murderer will stay in
Hellfire forever, there is a type of murder that the person
who commits it will suffer eternal torment.
Hence, as there are degrees of sins, like fitnah,
murder too has different degrees as an offense. These
degrees depend on the identity and status of the victim, as
well as the results it will incur. Regardless of who the
victim is, murder is a grave crime, but assassinating the
commander of an army or the head of a state is not the same
as killing an ordinary citizen in terms of the chain of
events that follow. Again, a murder committed in the Sacred
Mosque in Makkah where it is even forbidden to kill an
insect or pick tree leaves will not be equal to a murder
that is committed elsewhere.
For this reason, Ibn `Abbas considered
killing a prophet or a leader of the believers as equal to
killing all mankind. Therefore, those who execute a person
whose fate is connected with that of a nation, will have
issued a decree of execution for the entire nation. Those
who poison a man of action who devoted himself to the
salvation of all mankind can be considered to have poisoned
the entire nation. We can even say that they have poisoned
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and his
Companions. This is such a great atrocity that even if those
who commit it are believers, they can never find their way
to Paradise unless they are forgiven by all mankind.
In conclusion, every kind of unjust murder
is a great sin; but we can talk about different degrees,
depending on the time, place and the identity and status of
the victim.
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