What is the decree on killing a person by mistake? Is a person religiously regarded as a killer when he accidentally kills his friend while joking?

Is a person religiously regarded as a killer when he accidentally kills his friend while joking?  Is a person held responsible when he kills a friend, say while joking with a gun, hitting his body on the side, etc.? Will he be questioned in the hereafter because he killed a person?

Dear Brother / Sister,

"Never should a believer kill a believer; but (If it so happens) by mistake, (Compensation is due): If one (so) kills a believer, it is ordained that he should free a believing slave, and pay compensation to the deceased´s family, unless they remit it freely. If the deceased belonged to a people at war with you, and he was a believer, the freeing of a believing slave (Is enough). If he belonged to a people with whom ye have treaty of Mutual alliance, compensation should be paid to his family, and a believing slave be freed. For those who find this beyond their means, (is prescribed) a fast for two months running: by way of repentance to Allah: for Allah hath all knowledge and all wisdom."

"If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein (For ever): And the wrath and the curse of Allah are upon him, and a dreadful penalty is prepared for him." (an-Nisa, 4/92 and 93)

A believer cannot kill another believer. Belief will prevent it. However, if he kills a person by mistake without intending to kill him, it is an exception. For instance, if a person kills a believer while shooting the enemy or a game animal, it is a mistake. Or, he thinks a person is his enemy by looking at his place or clothes and kills him by shooting him. This is also a mistake. None of them is mubah but man cannot be free of mistakes; something like that might happen. For instance, Ayyash b. Rabiatal-Mahzum – he was Abu Jahl’s maternal half-brother – became a Muslim and migrated to Madinah with the first muhajirs by escaping from the evil of his relatives. Thereupon, his mother vowed not to eat and drink and not to enter her house until her son returned. Abu Jahl went to find him with Harith b. Zayd b. Abi Unaysa; they found him outside Madinah, in a strong room. Abu Jahl addressed him as follows: to persuade him:

"Does Muhammad not encourage you to keep in touch with your relatives? Therefore, go and look after your mother and remain in your religion."

Finally, he was persuaded and went with them. When they left Madinah, Abu Jahl and Harith tied him and beat him. Each of them beat him with a cane hundred times. He said to Harith,

"This is my brother but who are you, o Harith! If I find you alone, I swear by Allah that I will kill you."

They and took him to his mother, with his hands tied. His mother swore that his hands must not ne untied until he returned to his previous religion. He pretended to return to his religion; then, he migrated to Madinah again. Ayyash met that man alone in Quba and killed him without knowing that he was a Muslim. When he found out that he came there to become a Muslim, he regretted. He entered into the presence of the Prophet (pbuh) and said, 

"I killed him but I did not know that he was a Muslim."

It is narrated that this verse was sent down upon this incident.

Similarly, Hudhayfa b. al-Yaman's father, Yaman, was killed by a soldier of Islam by mistake on the day of "the Battle of Uhud"; it is also narrated that this was the reason why this verse was sent down. Therefore, a believer cannot kill another believer in terms of religion and belief but killing by mistake is an exception. It might happen. It is especially possible during a war. No matter where it occurs, the decree about it is as follows: 

Never should a believer kill a believer; but (If it so happens) by mistake, (Compensation is due): If one (so) kills a believer, it is ordained that he should free a believing slave, and pay compensation to the deceased´s family, (refer to fiqh books about the way this diyah (compensation) is paid and its amount) unless they remit it freely.

To free a slave is atonement for Allah's right and to pay diyah is to compensate for the harm as violation of a person’s right. There are two rights related to the killing of a person: one is Allah’s right and the other is a person’s right. Life is Allah’s right in the first place; freedom is also a kind of right. It is Allah’s right. In return for eliminating the life, which is Allah’s right, of a believing slave of Allah, giving a believing slave a new life by giving him freedom is the best and most appropriate atonement (kaffarah) that will cover the sin of the believer killing another believer by mistake and that is a punishment in one aspect and worshipping in another. If the killing were deliberate, that sin could not be covered by atonement. However, mistake includes some carelessness but it is not completely possible to avoid mistakes; therefore, the person who has killed another person by mistake needs education, consolation and help. Therefore, he cannot forgive atonement. The person who was killed had the right of benefitting from life, which is Allah’s right; he had the right to live. The person who killed him took this right from him though by mistake; and no right is lost; therefore, it is the right of the inheritors, who will benefit from his wealth, to receive a diyah (compensation) in return for their relative who was killed by mistake. The person who killed also needs help. Thus, his paternal relatives should help him pay the diyah. If the inheritors forgive him, it will be help from them. Therefore, this help (solidarity) is encouraged through the phrase "tasadduq" (doing charity, giving money to the poor), instead of acquitting by forgiving. The decree on killing a believer in an Islamic country has two parts: kaffarah (atonement) and diyah (compensation).

However, if the person who killed by mistake is not a Muslim, only diyah is necessary. As for the nation of the unbeliever, if the believer who was killed by mistake was from a country that is in a state of war with you, it is necessary for the killer to free a believing slave. Diyah is not mentioned here. However, this issue is an issue of ijtihad. Some tafsir scholars state the following about its reason: "For, there is no inheritance between this person who was killed and his family and relatives." However, it is possible for the believer who was killed to have a believing inheritor in that land of unbelief; besides, it will necessitate not taking the diyah of a believer who was killed in the land of an Islamic country and who had an unbelieving relative in the land of unbelievers; therefore, this reason is not proper. The real reason for diyah not to be necessary is as follows: The land of unbelief is not a place of protection; this believer did not come from a hostile community; he had his blood shed in vain because he preferred to live there.

If he (the person that was killed by mistake) belonged to a people with whom you have treaty of mutual alliance, both diyah and kaffarah become necessary though that nation is a non-Muslim community whether the person who was killed was a Muslim or an unbeliever. Here, diyah (blood money) is mentioned first, unlike the first part, in order to remind that it is necessary to hurry to pay diyah lest the treaty should be broken. In that case, if a dhimmi (non-Muslim) living in the land of Islam, or non-Muslim foreigner who is a refugee, or a Muslim is killed by a believer by mistake in the land of Islam , if a Muslim from a foreign country that has a treaty of alliance with Muslims or that is not in a state of war with Muslims is killed by a believer by mistake, both diyah and kaffarah become necessary just like a believer killed by mistake in Islamic land. That is, the first part has no conditions, but in terms of comparison, it means any believer killed in Islamic land, the second part is a believer belonging to a foreign nation and killed in non-Islamic land and the third part means a dhimmi, a refugee and a believer belonging to a foreign nation that has a treaty with Muslims and that is killed there. For, there is no doubt that when this believer is killed in Islamic land, it is included in the first part but including it in the first part when he is killed outside Islamic land will be doubtful due to the rule "when a word that expresses a general meaning is made specific, the remaining part expresses doubt" due to the second part; it is mentioned again with dhimmi and refugee in order to eliminate this doubt. 

In those three sentences, all possibilities about the person who is killed by mistakes are mentioned: whether he is a believer or an unbeliever, whether he is in Islamic land or non-Islamic land, but only the duty of the believer who killed by mistake is explained. However, it is understood from it that the duty of the person who kills by mistake and who is not a believer but who has a treaty is to pay diyah, not kaffarah. For, kaffarah has the meaning of worshipping; therefore, unbelievers are not held responsible for kaffarah before belief. 

Thus, it is fard for a Muslim who kills by mistake to free a slave as kaffarah whether diyah is necessary or not. Therefore, if a believer who has killed cannot find a believing slave to free, if he does not have a believing slave or a way of owning a slave, it becomes necessary for him to fast for two months on end; this fasting is for the acceptance of his repentance by Allah. Another meaning is that this alternative of fasting is a permission and ease instead of freeing a slave, which is essential, in case a person cannot afford to free a slave; it is secondary kaffarah. Accordingly, both of them are wanted by Allah. They cannot be wanted by slaves. It cannot replace diyah, which is the right of a slave.

It is a sin to eliminate the life, which is Allah’s right, of a believer or a person who has a treaty even if it is by mistake. Thus, freeing a believing slave is a kind of reviving that can replace the life that is eliminated; fasting is also like freeing a slave. Freeing a slave means saving a person from the bond of slavery; similarly, fasting means saving one’s own soul from the slavery of lust and desires. Therefore, if a believer who kills by mistake cannot afford to free a believing slave, he has to fast for two months on end and free his soul from the bond of strong desires and save his soul from sins by giving himself spiritual freedom.  For, he himself is also a believing slave. Allah knows everything very well. He knows the state of the killer; He is Wise; He imposed all of those decrees based on His wisdom. He knows the wisdom behind fasting two months.

For those who find this beyond their means, (is prescribed) a fast for two months running: by way of repentance to Allah. (an-Nisa, 4/92)

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