KILLING ONE PERSON IS LIKE KILLING ALL HUMANITY

The Quran tells us: ‘Whoever killed a human being, except as a punishment for murder or for spreading corruption in the land, shall be regarded as having killed all mankind.’ (5:32)

Killing someone is a very heinous act. It is legitimate only if someone becomes a definite danger to social peace. To kill someone without genuine justification is tantamount to the slaughter of the whole of humanity, because such an action is a gross violation of respect for life, which, in turn, leads to the taking of human life becoming a seemingly easy affair.

With regard to the consumption of alcohol, there is a tradition of the Prophet which tells us that if a large quantity of something leads to intoxication, then a small quantity of it, too, is forbidden. (Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith No. 3681) The same principle applies in the case of killing as well. It is as reprehensible and enormous a crime to kill a single person as it is to kill a large number of people. The only difference between the two is of degree, but in terms of the nature of the act itself there is no difference whatsoever.

From the Quranic verse quoted earlier one can gauge the great importance that Islam gives to peace and security. Islam demands that if a single person is killed, the entire society must respond as if it is not a single individual, but, rather, the whole of humanity, that has been slain.