An aggressor is warded off with the minimum amount of force required, if
possible.[1]
If it is possible to ward him off by shouting and crying for help, he is not
warded off by using one's hands. If one cannot ward him off with one’s hands, one
wards him off by using a stick. If one cannot ward him off using a stick, one wards
him off using a weapon. If he cannot be warded off except by injuring a limb,
one does so, and if he cannot be warded off except by killing, one wards him
off by killing him. In other words, if it is possible to ward him off by
talking and crying for help, it is unlawful to strike. If one can strike with a
whip, it is unlawful to strike with a stick. If one can chop off a limb, it is
unlawful to kill. If one can run away, then the position of the madhhab[2]
is that it is obligatory to do so, and it is unlawful to fight.
[Translated from al-Fiqh ash-Shāfiʿī al-Muyassar by Imam Wahbah
az-Zuḥaylī (Damascus: Dār al-Fikr, 2008) v.2, p.444]
[1] (tn): i.e. if one has to resort to more extreme measures, then one
does so. As Imam Ahmad ibn Naqīb al-Maṣrī says in the same section in ʿUmdat
as-Sālik, ‘If one is convinced that the aggressor cannot be warded off
except by killing him, one kills him and one is not held accountable for doing
so.’ [Tanwīr al-Masālik bi Sharḥ wa
Adillat ʿUmdat as-Sālik wa ʿUddat an-Nāsik (Damascus: Dār al-Muṣṭafā,
1431/2010), v.2, p.961] Sheikh Muṣṭafā al-Bughā and his co-authors also explain, ‘If the one being aggressed against
becomes aware of the aggressor while he is carrying out a crime, such as
committing al-fāḥishah [i.e. rape] or killing an innocent person, one
can kill him directly without resorting to any preliminary measures. If one
kills the aggressor in a situation like this, the aggressor’s life is not
protected by law.’ [al-Fiqh al-Manhajī ʿalā Madhhab al-Imām ash-Shāfiʿī
(Damascus: Dār al-Qalam, 1433/2012) v.3, p.454]
[2] (tn): i.e. the legal
school of Imam Muḥammad ibn Idrīs ash-Shāfiʿī
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