"...And you had killed a person, then We brought you out of the trouble; and We tested you with a great ordeal..." (Surah Ta-Ha:40)
When Sayyidna Musa AS saw an Egyptian non-Muslim fighting an Isra'ili Muslim, he struck the former with a blow that caused his death. Hazrat Musa AS described this act as an act of Satan and prayed to Allah for forgiveness.
The question that arises here is that the Egyptian was a non-Muslim, and a citizen of دارالحرب (Enemy country), who had no peace agreement between him and Hazrat Musa AS. He didn't also have the status of a Dhimmi (ذمّی) (a non-Muslim living in a Muslim state) who is entitled to full protection of his rights from the Muslims. So why was his murder described as an act of Satan and a sin?
Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi RE had replied to this question that both Hazrat Musa AS and that Egyptian lived under the rule of Pharaoh, and were at peace with each other being Pharaoh's subjects. This was an implied covenant between the two of them. Thus the murder of the Egyptian was a violation of that implied covenant and therefore a sin. For this reason, in pre-partition India when both the Muslims and the Hindus lived under the British rule Hazrat Thanvi RE did not consider it lawful for a Muslim to take the life or property of a Hindu.
Abstracted from Ma'ariful Quran, by Mufti Muhammad Shafi RE
When Sayyidna Musa AS saw an Egyptian non-Muslim fighting an Isra'ili Muslim, he struck the former with a blow that caused his death. Hazrat Musa AS described this act as an act of Satan and prayed to Allah for forgiveness.
The question that arises here is that the Egyptian was a non-Muslim, and a citizen of دارالحرب (Enemy country), who had no peace agreement between him and Hazrat Musa AS. He didn't also have the status of a Dhimmi (ذمّی) (a non-Muslim living in a Muslim state) who is entitled to full protection of his rights from the Muslims. So why was his murder described as an act of Satan and a sin?
Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi RE had replied to this question that both Hazrat Musa AS and that Egyptian lived under the rule of Pharaoh, and were at peace with each other being Pharaoh's subjects. This was an implied covenant between the two of them. Thus the murder of the Egyptian was a violation of that implied covenant and therefore a sin. For this reason, in pre-partition India when both the Muslims and the Hindus lived under the British rule Hazrat Thanvi RE did not consider it lawful for a Muslim to take the life or property of a Hindu.
Abstracted from Ma'ariful Quran, by Mufti Muhammad Shafi RE
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