Breaking (kasr)

Kasr in the lexicon is shattering a thing and separating its parts. As a mathematical term it is a part of one that is not whole, such as a half or a fifth. Qat' (cutting) is narrower; jarh (wounding with a weapon) is narrower still; and shajja applies only to the face and head ^{1 2}.

Breaking the bone of a person whose blood is protected by Islam, by a covenant or by protection, unjustly and aggressively, is forbidden by consensus ².

Retaliation is owed for breaking a tooth intentionally when the conditions of retaliation hold and no greater damage than the broken part is feared, on the verse "the tooth for the tooth". If that further damage is feared, there is no retaliation and compensation is due ². For other bones the schools differ: the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold no retaliation, since equality cannot be assured; the Malikis allow it except for bones whose injury is grave, such as the breast-bone, the spine, the neck bones and the thigh ^{2 3}.

The Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold that there is no fixed legal compensation for breaking a bone, only an assessed sum, except for the tooth. Some of them fix sums for certain bones, such as four camels for both forearms, two for a shin, four for both shins, and two for the thigh. The Malikis hold that if there is no retaliation and the limb heals to its shape, nothing is owed; if it heals crooked, an assessed sum is owed ³.

The schools differ on liability for breaking them. Abu Hanifa holds that a musical instrument that has other uses is valued in those uses; if it has none, nothing is owed. The Malikis appear to hold that its value when broken is owed. The Shafi'is hold that idols, crosses and instruments of forbidden music are not protected, and that a man who must break them to stop the wrong may do so; wine vessels are treated the same when the wine cannot be poured out. The Hanbalis and Abu Yusuf and Muhammad hold that nothing is owed, on the hadith that God and His Messenger forbade the sale of wine, carrion, pork and idols; on wine vessels there are two narrations from Ahmad. It is reported that Ibn Umar split wine skins in the markets of Medina at the Prophet ﷺ's command ^{3 4}.

When a deceased's estate yields heirs' shares that cannot be divided without a fraction, the case is corrected by multiplying the base of the case by the smallest number that lets each heir receive a whole number of shares. The detailed rules belong to the entry on inheritance ⁴.