An-Nisa 92: It is not for a believer (mu’min) to kill another believer, except by mistake. For the person who kills a believer by mistake, there is an obligation to free a believing slave and to present blood money to the family of the killed unless the family of the killed excuses (the obligation to pay) the blood money. If the person killed is a believer but from a group that is hostile to you, there is an obligation to free a believing slave. If (the person killed) is from a group with whom there is a treaty between you, there is an obligation to pay blood money to the family and to free a believing slave. For a person who cannot find these, for repentance of the sins, there is an obligation to fast for two months without interruption. Allah is All-Knowing (Aleem) and All-Wise (Hakeem).

Surah An-Nisa, verse 92. Except when it happens by mistake, a believer — a believer has no right to kill a believer. No one, in any case, has the right or authority to kill anyone. Yes.

So for one to kill another can never be. It can only happen by accident.

If it is not by accident, qisas is applied. If a death occurs by accident, blood money is paid. We will explain these now. Yes.

A believing slave — whoever kills a believer by mistake must free a believing slave and give blood money to be handed to the family of the deceased — that is required. Unless the family of the deceased waives that blood money; if they waive it, no money is paid. In that case no blood money is given. If the one killed is a believer but from a people hostile to you, he must free a believing slave. Next: if he is from a people with whom you have a treaty, blood money to be handed to his family and the freeing of a believing slave are required. Whoever cannot find these must, for Allah to accept his repentance, fast for two consecutive months.

Allah knows all things and is All-Wise.

That is the verse. So that this verse may be better understood by you, we will tell an event that happened to us. The year 1978, I am on Hajj. I was on duty then. I went on Hajj. I took my late mother too. I went in my own car.

A car hits a pilgrim, a Turkish pilgrim. It flings him away. Just at that moment I am passing by this car. Actually, you can't even call it passing. I had picked up a Turkish pilgrim, I was just setting off in the car. We had finished our Hajj, and coming to Mecca from the Mina centre I will come to (?), fill up the Zamzam water and set off. I had picked up a Turkish pilgrim, I was just about to move. One of our Turkish pilgrims jumps in front of the car, and when the car hits him, he comes into my car's mirror, the left-side mirror, and breaks it. (?) hits the window, and he falls beside my car.

Under the laws there, in unexplained accidents where no culprit is found, the state pays an amount. If a culprit is found, they do not let the culprit go. So that they take the money from him. Because it's an accident. So it falls on us. As if we had run him over, as if we had hit him. 6-7 local eyewitnesses and a doctor named Abbas — though they say we are innocent, one of them says no. We will leave this one here.

We spend 3 months in prison there.

We send our late mother back. That three-month (?) stay, the documents reaching the Turkish pilgrim, from there being translated into Arabic again, and from Arabic, via the consulates, to Mecca reaching — that takes quite a while, of course. It comes to three months. Because we had connections, it (?). If we had had no one, no one behind us, it might have taken 7-8 months, 9 months, 10 months. Why would it take so long? His (?), that is, a letter of waiver — if no waiver is made, or if the family of the deceased cannot be found, they keep that person in prison. Until the next year, that is, until the Hajj; in the Hajj season, from the zakat money in the Bayt al-Mal, those who had such an accident the year before they set free.

In this situation, the then prime minister, the deputy prime minister Türkeş, being close to my uncle, sped up matters in Türkiye, and within about 3 months we get out of there. If you kill a person, the blood money you have to pay, by the reckoning of that time: 24,000 riyals you will pay. And at that time, 1 lira, 1 riyal 35 kuruş. That is, in our money, an amount of about eight thousand lira you'll pay. Eight thousand, about nine thousand lira you'll pay. Of course, in this case our relatives, (?), speeding these things up, brought it and paid it. We — As we wanted to pay blood money to his own relatives, their children said exactly this: When our father left here, he instructed us.

He said: I had a dream; I am staying there. If something happens to me, do not press charges against anyone, he said. Following our father's advice, we press no claim against anyone, they said. Yes. We also fasted two months in a row — şehreyn, it says. Still, I kept the fast. Back to back. Even though it was not on us, since we were involved in an accident, being an eye- witness there, and since it was left on us too, we said, out of piety, perhaps when that man hit the car, that is, when the car hit the man, he did not die, but died when, with that momentum, he hit my car — it could be. So out of piety we said, let us fast.

We fasted two months in a row.

So these are the cases that happen by accident; if someone is killed not by accident but deliberately, then qisas is applied. Qisas. Qisas: (?) they kill. The person who is to die, to be killed — in the square, the deeds he committed are read out. The executioner stands ready over him, sword in hand, waiting.

The guilty man has placed his head on the block. He waits for the sword's blow to fall. At that moment, what they call the (?) of the deceased — that is, his responsible person. If he pardons the man, the pardoned man pays blood money to the side that pardoned. That is, to make amends, to seal the peace, he pays an amount. After this, Allah Almighty says, whoever acts with hostility is guilty. Otherwise — if meanwhile that responsible person comes to the killer lying under the executioner's sword and cuts a lock of hair from his head, it means pardon. It means he has forgiven him. If he says no, kill him, they kill him.

Qisas is applied. Yes. This is Islamic law. It is a deterrent law. In later verses Allah Almighty says qisas: a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear. Yes, now let's read the verse once more. I think this part is now better understood, it seems to me. So if we read the verse (?) once more, it seems it will become even clearer. Except by mistake, a believer has no right to kill a believer. Whoever kills a believer by mistake must free a believing slave and give blood money to be handed to the family of the deceased. Unless the family of the deceased waives that blood money; if they waive it, the matter is closed.

In that case no blood money is given. If the one killed is a believer but from a people hostile to you, he must free a believing slave. The one killed is a believer but from a hostile people, from a people hostile to us, whose mother, father, relatives and kin are hostile to us — in this case no blood money is paid to them. You free a slave. Yes. If he is from a people with whom you have a treaty — in this case, even if they are non-Muslim — blood money to be handed to his family and the freeing of a believing slave are required. Whoever cannot find these, that is, who is not in a position to pay, whose finances are weak — Allah Almighty lightens that person's burden.

What does He do here? For Allah to accept his repentance, he must fast two consecutive months. Allah knows all things and is All-Wise. Yes.

Let's also read the verse the way we have written it.

A believer killing a believer can never be. It can only happen by accident. For example, hitting a person in a traffic accident and causing his death; as when a stone, removed from the road as a kindness to people, is thrown over a fence to the other side, hits the head of a man working below the fence, and he dies of a brain haemorrhage; or as when a gun in someone's hand goes off and accidentally kills the person opposite — in many incidents similar to these, if one kills a person by mistake, without intent, blood money is due for it. Blood money. The blood money is the equivalent of a hundred camels.

So on what basis do you set it, one asks. It is the equivalent of a hundred camels. On what basis were a hundred camels set? Perhaps nobody knows this. This point is also very important. Against what were a hundred camels set? Abdullah — they were going to sacrifice him too. You see, the Prophet (peace be upon him) says, I am the son of two who were to be sacrificed — his father, Abdullah. The first: the Prophet Abraham's going to sacrifice Ishmael. They saw fit to draw lots: let us start from 10 camels, 20 camels, 30, 40, 50 camels, increasing ten at a time, let's go up to 100 camels, they say. If even up to 100 camels his life's ransom does not save him, then we will sacrifice him, they say.

That is where the 100 camels come from. The equivalent of 100 camels.

Blood money is the equivalent of a hundred camels. The killer first frees a believing slave and pays the family of the deceased blood money. If the family of the deceased waives the blood money, this is an exception. Then no blood money is paid. The meaning of freeing a slave is, in return for a free life extinguished, to bring a slave to freedom. Yes, people, by their own inventions, enslaving people. So Allah Almighty, to such people — from the hands of such people — lays down this law too, so that people can be freed. Now, though, this (?) riyal — 100,000 riyals it comes to, 100,000 riyals are paid now.

If a man is killed — that is, in our money, an amount of roughly 34-35 thousand lira is paid. Nowadays, if a man is killed by accident.

Mia alf riyal, it comes to. Yes. Mia is 100. He will pay 100 alf riyal.

If the deceased is a kafir, but his family is Muslim, blood money is also required. The person is a kafir, but his family is Muslim. He frees a believing slave and pays blood money to the family. If the deceased is a kafir and his family are kafirs too, and from a people with whom there is a treaty, then again a believing slave and blood money are given. If the deceased is a kafir and from a people hostile to you, a slave is freed; blood money is not paid. No blood money is needed for this. Here, paying it would strengthen the hostile side, so the blood money lapses. If a person cannot afford to pay blood money and is poor, he fasts the two consecutive months it calls şehreyn, for Allah's pleasure. Yes, paying blood money to the family of a person killed by mistake removes the bonds of enmity between them.

If they are in need, on condition that they share the blood money among themselves, their pain is eased a little, and an apology has been made. Allah knows people's intentions and is most merciful. At the same time, Allah Almighty is All-Wise. How many life-giving things for people lie beneath His verses, Allah knows. How much life there is within and beneath these verses, Allah knows. As long as we apply them, we attain this life.