وَعَنِ الْمِقْدَادِ بْنِ الْأَسْوَدِ
أَنَّهُ قَالَ: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَرَأَيْتَ إِنْ لَقِيتُ رَجُلًا مِنَ الْكُفَّارِ فَاقْتَتَلْنَا فَضَرَبَ إِحْدَى يَدَيَّ بِالسَّيْفِ فقطعهما ثُمَّ لَاذَ مِنِّي بِشَجَرَةٍ فَقَالَ: أَسْلَمْتُ لِلَّهِ وَفِي رِوَايَةٍ: فَلَمَّا أَهْوَيْتُ لِأَقْتُلَهُ قَالَ: لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ أَأَقْتُلُهُ بَعْدَ أَنْ قَالَهَا؟
قَالَ: «لَا تَقْتُلْهُ» فَقَالَ: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنَّهُ قَطَعَ إِحْدَى يَدَيَّ فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «لَا تَقْتُلْهُ فَإِنْ قَتَلْتَهُ فَإِنَّهُ بِمَنْزِلَتِكَ قَبْلَ أَنْ تَقْتُلَهُ وَإِنَّكَ بِمَنْزِلَتِهِ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَقُولَ كَلِمَتَهُ الَّتِي قَالَ»
Al-Miqdad b. al-Aswad told that he said, “Tell me, Messenger of God, supposing I meet an infidel and we fight together and he strikes one of my hands with his sword and cuts it off, then flies for refuge from me to a tree and says he has submitted himself to God (or, in another version, says when I intend to kill him that there is no god but God), shall I kill him after he has said it?”
He replied, “Do not kill him.” He protested, “But, Messenger of God, he cut off one of my hands.” God’s Messenger then replied, “Do not kill him, for if you do so, he will be in the position in which you were before you killed him, and you will be in the position in which he was before he made his testimony.”* (Bukhari and Muslim.) *i.e. he will now be one for whose killing retaliation may be demanded, and you will be one whose blood may lawfully be shed.