A man brought to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ the killer of his relative.The Prophet ﷺ said to him, "Pardon him."The man refused.The Prophet said, "Then take the blood-money."He refused again.The Prophet said, "Go and kill him, for you will be just like him."So the man set off with the killer. Someone said to him, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, 'Kill him, for you will be just like him.'"So he let him go. The killer was then seen dragging his rope as he walked back to his family, as though he had been bound with it.
أتى رجل بقاتل وليه إلى رسول الله ﷺ فقال له النبي ﷺ: اعف فأبى. فقال: خذ أرشك فأبى. قال: اذهب فاقتله، فإنك مثله قال: فلحق به. فقيل له: إن رسول الله ﷺ قد قال: اقتله فإنك مثله فخلى سبيله قال: فرئي يجر نسعته ذاهبا إلى أهله. قال: كأنه قد كان أوثقه.
Ibn Majah (2691), Nasai (4730), and Ibn Abu Asim in al-Diyat (221101) all narrated it, all of them from the hadith of Damra bin Rabia, from Ibn Shawdhab, from Thabit Bunani, from Anas bin Malik, who related it.Its isnad is hasan because of Damra bin Rabia and his teacher Ibn Shawdhab, whose name is Abdullah, both of whom are trustworthy narrators.Ibn Majah said, Abu Umayr said in his hadith, Ibn Shawdhab said, from Abdul-Rahman bin Qasim, "So it is not for anyone after the Prophet ﷺ to say, 'Kill him, for you are like him.'" Ibn Majah said, This is the hadith of the people of Ramla, found only with them. End of quote.Ibn Abu Asim said, It seems that the meaning of the Prophet's ﷺ statement, "If you kill him, then you are like him," relates to a matter that Allah revealed to His Prophet ﷺ.