[31] Quranic Verses in Its favour: مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَى بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَنَّهُ مَنْ قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَلَقَدْ جَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُنَا بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ ثُمَّ إِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ فِي الْأَرْضِ لَمُسْرِفُونَ (5:32) For this reason did We prescribe to the children of Israel that whoever slays a soul, unless it be for manslaughter or for mischief in the land, it is as though he slew all men; and whoever keeps it alive, it is as though he kept alive all men; and certainly Our messengers came to them with clear arguments, but even after that many of them certainly act extravagantly in the land (5:32).
In Al-Kafi it is narrated from Imam Mohammed Baqir -asws that the words ‘فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا’ means to save someone from being killed by drowning or engulfed into fire or to save someone from being destroyed from Kufr.
[32] The same explanation is given by Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq -asws in Al-Kafi and Tafseer-e-Aaishi, Imam -asws also says: ‘if someone guides a soul to the ‘Just Path’, it is as if he had saved his life but if someone misleads a person from the ‘Rightious Path’ to the unjust way, it is like killing him’.
In Manla Yahzar-ul-Faqi, it referred to Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq -asws that if one gives water to someone where water is available then he would be rewarded as he has liberated one salve but if one gives water to someone where water is unavailable then it is similar to saving a soul and Allah -azwj says he who saves one soul it is like saving the entire humanity.
[33] إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةَ وَالدَّمَ وَلَحْمَ الْخِنْزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ بِهِ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍ وَلَا عَادٍ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (2:173) He has only forbidden you what dies of itself, and blood, and flesh of swine, and that over which any other (name) than (that of) Allah has been invoked; but whoever is driven to necessity, not desiring, nor exceeding the limit, no sin shall be upon him; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
It is narrated from Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq -asws that غَيْرَ بَاغٍ وَلَا عَادٍ refers to that person who rises agaisnt the Divine Imam -asws of his time and also applies to a hunter as well as to the opressor. The word عَاد also applies to the thiefs.