The verse 33 of the Surah Al-Isra` is both historically and jurisprudentially well-known. It is historically well-known because Mu'āwiyyah resorting to this verse and under the pretext of being the avenger of the blood of assassinated caliph, Uthmān, refused to give oath of allegiance to Imam Ali (AS). It is jurisprudentially well-known because various jurisprudential rules such as “the principle of unlawfulness of killing any human being regardless of his/her religion or other features”, “lawfulness of retaliation (Qisas)”, and “retaliation standard” can be deduced from it. However, one of the most important phrases of this verse is undoubtedly “And if anyone is slain wrongfully” that its generalization to other cases “the one”, for example, “who has committed a crime for which a fixed punishment has been prescribed by God (Ḥadd) and deserves death that has been killed by a person other than Imam or ruler”, “a murderer who has been killed by a person other than the avenger of the blood or who has permission on his/her behalf” , “one who has been killed and his/her murdered claims that he killed her to legally defend himself/herself, without being able to prove it …” needs reflection.
This article discusses the cause of revelation of this verse and the principle of unlawfulness of murder. Meanwhile, it explains the phrase “And if anyone is slain wrongfully” and investigates whether it is applicable to dubious cases or not.