Muhammad Bin Yahya, from Ahmad Bin Muhammad, form Al Hassan Bin Mahboub, from Al Hassan Bin Salih who said, ‘I asked Abu Abdullah asws about a man who was found killed, so two men came over to his guardian, so one of the two said, ‘I killed him deliberately’, and the other one said, ‘I killed him in error’. So he asws said: ‘If he takes to the words of the one with the deliberation, so there is no way for him upon the one with the error; and if he were to take to the words of the one with the error, so there is no way for him against the one with the deliberation’.

Translation: HubeAli — attributed by Thaqalayn·The Arabic above is the original.

Ali Bin Ibrahim, from his father, from one of our companions, Abu Abdullah asws has said: ‘They came to Amir Al-Momineen asws with a man (who was found in) some ruins, and in his hand was a knife soaked in blood, and there was a slaughtered man soaked in his blood. So Amir Al-Momineen asws said to him: ‘What are you saying?’ He said, ‘O Amir Al-Momineen asws ! I killed him’. He asws said: ‘Go away with him, so kill him’. So when they went away with him in order to kill him, a man came over in haste, so he said, ‘Do not be hasty, and return him to Amir Al-Momineen asws !’ So they returned him. So he said, ‘By Allah azwj , O Amir Al-Momineen asws ! This one is not its perpetrator, it was I who killed him’. So Amir Al-Momineen asws said to the first one: ‘What carried you upon your confession against your own self, and you did not do it?’ So he said, ‘O Amir Al-Momineen asws , and I did not have the ability that I should be saying (anything in my defense), and there had testified against me the likes of these men, and they seized me, and in my hand was a knife soaked with the blood, and the man was soaked in his blood, and I was standing over him, and I feared the beating. So I confessed, and I am a man who had gone to slaughter a sheep by the side of these ruins, and I was seized (by the need for) the urination. So I entered the ruins, and I saw the man soaked in his blood. So I stood there wondering, and they came over to me, so they seized me’. So Amir Al-Momineen asws said: ‘Take these two and go with them both to Al-Hassan asws , and related both their stories to him asws and say to him asws : ‘What is the decision with regards to these two?’ So they went to Al-Hassan asws and related the both their stories to him asws . So Al-Hassan asws said: ‘Say to Amir Al-Momineen asws , ‘If this one has killed him so he has revived this one, and Allah azwj Mighty and Majestic Says [5:32] and whoever keeps it alive, it is as though he kept alive all men . Free them both and take the wergild of the slaughtered one from the public treasury’.

Translation: HubeAli — attributed by Thaqalayn·The Arabic above is the original.

Muhammad Bin Yahya from Ahmad Bin Muhammad and Ali Bin Ibrahim from his father, both together from Ibn Mahboub, from Hisham Bin Salim, from Zurara, (The narrator) says, ‘I asked Abu Ja’far asws about a man who killed, so they carried him to the governor, and a group came so the witnesses testified against him that they killed him deliberately. So the governor handed over the killer to the guardians of the killed one in order for them to retaliate (revenge) against him. So, they had not begun with him when a man came over and confessed in the presence of the governor that he had killed their companion deliberately, and that this man against whom the witnesses had testified is free from the killing of so and so companion of yours, therefore he should not be killed for it, and seize me (instead) for his blood’. He (the narrator) said, ‘So Abu Ja’far asws said: ‘If the guardians of the killed one intend to kill the one who confessed against himself, so let them kill him, and there would be no way for them against the other one. Then there is no way for the inheritors of the one who confessed against himself against the inheritors of the one testified against. And if they intend to kill the one who has been testified against, so let them kill him, and there would be no way for them against the one who confessed. Then the one who confessed against himself should pay the wergild to the guardians of the one testified against, of half the wergild’. I said, ‘What is your asws view if they intend to they should kill both of them together?’ He asws said: ‘That is for them, and upon them would be that they should hand over half the wergild to the guardians of the one testified against in particular, besides his companion. Then they can kill both of them’. I said, ‘What is your asws view if they intend to take the wergild?’ So he asws said: ‘The wergild is in two halves in between them both, because one of the two confessed, and the other one has been testified against’. I said, ‘How come you asws made half the wergild to be for the guardians of the one who was testified against, over the one who confessed against himself that he had killed, and did not make it for the guardians of the one who confessed against himself over the one who was testified against, and he did not kill?’ So he asws said: ‘Because the one who was testified against is not similar to the one who confessed. The one who was testified against did not confess and did not free his companions, and the one other confessed and freed his companion. Therefore, it necessitates that the one who confessed and freed his companion that does not necessitate the one who was testified against, and did not confess and did not free his companion’.

Translation: HubeAli — attributed by Thaqalayn·The Arabic above is the original.