The Ruling on One Who Kills His Child
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Question : Now, suppose a man kills his child. Is he to be killed? If a poor man has a son or a daughter and kills him or her because he cannot find what to spend on him or her, is the servant to be killed, or does he not become a disbeliever?
Answer : Yes. Some scholars said that he is to be killed if we know that he intended the killing. He is killed based on the generality of the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-Baqarah 2:178] and His saying: [Al-Ma'idah 5:45] meaning that it was written for the Children of Israel in the Torah that a life is taken for a life. And the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Sunan an-Nasa'i 4721Sahih (Darussalam) the apostate, the fornicator, and a life for a life.
They said that if a man kills his child, he combines two transgressions: the transgression of severing ties and the transgression of killing, so he is killed. This is the position of Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him). However, most scholars say that if a father kills his child, he is not killed. They cited as evidence a well-known hadith among scholars: "A father is not killed for his child." But many scholars weakened this hadith. They also said that the father is the cause of the child's existence, so the child should not be the cause of his execution. However, there is no doubt that this reason is flawed. There is no doubt that the father is the cause of the child's existence, but the cause of his killing is the father's transgression, not the existence of the son. So how can his existence be the cause of the execution of the one who brought him into existence, or the one who was the cause of his existence? In any case, this issue is discussed and debated in the books of jurisprudence. But we have addressed the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-An'am 6:151]
Answer : Yes. Some scholars said that he is to be killed if we know that he intended the killing. He is killed based on the generality of the saying of Allah the Exalted:
O you who have believed, prescribed for you is legal retribution for those murdered
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِصَاصُ فِي الْقَتْلَىAnd We ordained for them therein
وَكَتَبْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ فِيهَاIt is not permissible to shed the blood of a Muslim except in one of three cases
لا يحل دم امرئ مسلم إلا بإحدى ثلاثThey said that if a man kills his child, he combines two transgressions: the transgression of severing ties and the transgression of killing, so he is killed. This is the position of Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him). However, most scholars say that if a father kills his child, he is not killed. They cited as evidence a well-known hadith among scholars: "A father is not killed for his child." But many scholars weakened this hadith. They also said that the father is the cause of the child's existence, so the child should not be the cause of his execution. However, there is no doubt that this reason is flawed. There is no doubt that the father is the cause of the child's existence, but the cause of his killing is the father's transgression, not the existence of the son. So how can his existence be the cause of the execution of the one who brought him into existence, or the one who was the cause of his existence? In any case, this issue is discussed and debated in the books of jurisprudence. But we have addressed the saying of Allah the Exalted:
do not kill your children out of poverty
وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُم مِّنْ إِمْلَاقٍ
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، [160] حكم من قتل ولده - فوائد الخطب والمحاضرات - ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.