May I kill a snake or a scorpion, or does that go against mercy?

Yes. Averting a threatening danger from yourself and others does not go against mercy. It is a wise mercy that protects the higher good, the lives of people.

Mercy can be understood in two ways, a wise way and an unwise way. Whoever thinks that being merciful means never acting against anything confuses mercy with helplessness. Someone who can never act, even when danger threatens, is not merciful but incapable.

A simple example makes this clear. Suppose someone spares a venomous snake lying in the yard of his house because he does not want to kill it. Shortly afterwards it bites a child, and the child dies. Was that merciful? He sacrificed a higher good, a human life, for a lower one.

Mercy has to respect the order of values. A human life weighs heavily, as the first verse above shows. Averting a nearby danger to protect yourself and others therefore does not go against mercy. Rather, it shows that you have understood mercy rightly.

The same holds on a larger scale. The Holy Qur’an permits defending oneself against aggressors. If every form of defence were forbidden, cruelty and oppression would have free rein, and the weak would find no shelter anywhere. True mercy therefore takes into account the different situations a person can face and what each one demands.

For the snake and the scorpion, this means that if they threaten you or others, you may kill them. Where there is no danger, there is no reason to do so. Whoever makes this distinction is not acting against mercy, but in keeping with it.