Qitaal: Whoever abuses the Prophet, kill him?

Question:
The prophet (saw) said, "Whoever abuses a Companion, punish him and whoever abuses the Prophet, kill him". So here we have an undeniable example of how the Prophet (saw) sent people out to assassinate those who had slandered him. Now I take this action on its merit as a hadith. However, you may take it as "creating mischief". How can you claim otherwise?

Response:
The information above, if quoted as a general rule, is extremely misleading, apart from being against the Qur'an and the other examples of the Prophet's conduct. The Qur'an doesn't allow any individual to be killed except for two reasons: murder and creating mischief on earth. The prophet, alaihissalaaam, refused to get the chief of hypocrites, Abdullah Ibn Ubayy, killed despite the fact that he insulted the prophet and his companions, explaining, "I don't want people to say that Muhammad kills his own people". We, therefore, have a contradiction of information from two sources. The solution -- and the only solution -- is that the prophet alaihisslaam, got some people killed either because their mischief on earth was proven beyond doubt or, as the Qur'an explains time and again, they were killed in accordance with the Sunnah of the Almighty that the enemies of Messengers of Allah are punished by being destroyed after Itmaam e Hujjah has been done on them (i.e. when the message of God is fully and clearly communicated to the nation of the messenger and they still insist on denying it).

Then what becomes the approach? If you explain the actions of the prophet (saw) apparently unexplainable in the Qur'an, by taking general references in the Qur'an as creating mischief, then you have admitted that the prophet (saw) is elaborating a meaning of mischief which may not have made sense to us before. If you concede this, then you have to continue to apply the principle that the prophet (saw) elaborates meanings and that is indeed one of the roles of the Sunnah.

The fact of the matter is that in trying to work out a relationship between the Qur'an and hadith, especially when the two seem to be apparently contradicting each other, only two approaches are possible: either what clearly emerges from the Qur'an is accepted as final and hadith is understood and adjusted accordingly, or the meanings of the Qur'an are twisted to force them to adjust according to the meanings of hadith. I believe that the latter approach is against the Qur'an, the example of the Prophet, alaihissalaam, and the example of his illustrious Companions.

Also, while following the former approach, one rarely needs to reject an authentic hadith. A vast majority of them can be easily accommodated to be interpreted in the light of the Qur'an. In that case, they give a sense that is completely consistent with the Qur'an. And that is what their purpose and role is.

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