Hadith Text & Reference

"Killing a believer is more grievous before Allah than the extinction of the whole world."

Source: Sunan an-Nasa'i 3988 | The Book of Fighting [The Prohibition of Bloodshed]

The Gravity of the Sin

This hadith establishes the immense sanctity of a Muslim's life. The comparison to the "extinction of the whole world" is not literal but a powerful rhetorical device (mithāl) used in Arabic to express the ultimate severity. It means that in the scales of Divine justice, the sin of murdering one believer outweighs the loss of all worldly possessions, kingdoms, and temporal power combined.

Scholarly Commentary (Tafsir)

Scholars explain that the believer's life is sacred because it is fortified by faith (īmān). To unlawfully extinguish this life is to violate a trust placed by Allah. The "world" (dunyā) is fleeting and insignificant compared to the eternal soul. Therefore, destroying something eternal (the soul's divinely appointed term) is a far greater transgression than the annihilation of something temporary.

Imam an-Nawawi states this hadith underscores that the rights of Allah's servants are taken with utmost seriousness, and no worldly compensation can ever equate to the value of a single human life created by Allah.

Legal & Spiritual Consequences

In Islamic law, this establishes murder as one of the major sins (kabā'ir). The legal punishment (qiṣāṣ) in this world is severe, and the spiritual consequence in the Hereafter is the threat of eternal punishment in Hellfire unless the murderer sincerely repents and seeks the forgiveness of the victim's heirs.

This prohibition extends beyond physical killing to include character assassination, spreading false rumors that could lead to harm, and any action that compromises the safety and dignity of a believer.