Blood-money (diya) in fiqh

Diya in fiqh is the compensation owed for a life or for a lesser injury. It falls on the kin group ('aqila) in an accidental or quasi-intentional killing, and on the killer himself when a deliberate killing is settled by diya rather than retaliation. ¹ The full diya of a free Muslim man is a hundred camels, a thousand dinars of gold, or twelve thousand silver dirhams according to the majority, ten thousand according to the Hanafis. A woman's diya is half a man's. ^{2 3}

Diya is established by the Qur'an, the Sunna and the agreement of the scholars; its purpose is to keep the body from being destroyed and the blood from being wasted. The letter sent to the people of Yemen lists the diya for a life and for the parts of the body. ^{10 11}

In an accidental or quasi-intentional killing the 'aqila pays, in instalments over three years; the Hanafis and Malikis also make the killer share in the accidental case. The quasi-intentional diya is heavier in the ages of the camels and falls on the 'aqila; jurists differ on how much the 'aqila bears. ^{12 13 14} In a deliberate killing the diya is owed at once by the killer, and it is so when retaliation falls away through a pardon or a doubt. ^{15 14} When there is no 'aqila, or the 'aqila cannot pay, the diya falls on the public treasury according to the majority; a diya for an error of a ruler or a judge is due from the treasury according to the Hanafis; and a body found in a public place is paid from the treasury, while one found in a particular quarter is paid after the oath of the swearing ceremony. ^{16 17}

The camel is the basis of diya by agreement. The Hanafis and Malikis take three bases: camels, gold and silver. The school of Ahmad, with Umar and the seven jurists of Medina, takes five, adding cattle and sheep; Abu Yusuf and Muhammad add garments. Al-Shafi'i keeps only camels. ^{2 3} If camels are not available the diya is a thousand dinars or twelve thousand dirhams in one view, or their value in another. ³ A heavy diya in camels is divided into four groups of twenty-five: bint makhad, bint labun, hiqqa and jadha'a. ^{13 15}

A free Muslim woman's diya is half a man's. For injuries to limbs, the Malikis and Hanbalis equate her with a man up to a third and then halve it; the Hanafis and Shafi'is halve it throughout. ^{3 4} A protected non-Muslim's diya is half a Muslim's according to the Malikis and Hanbalis; the Hanafis count him equal to the Muslim; the Shafi'is put a Jew or Christian at a third. A belligerent is owed nothing. ^{4 5 18} A miscarried fetus is owed a ghurra, one-tenth of a diya's half: five camels or fifty dinars; if born alive and dying later, the full diya is owed. ^{18 19} For an intersex victim, the Malikis and Hanbalis assign half a man's and half a woman's diya, while the Hanafis hold back the rest until his condition is known. ⁴

A nose cut off wholly, a tongue, the male organ, the spine, the two testicles, the lips and the buttocks each carry a fixed diya or half of one, as listed by the book; the ears, eyes, hands and feet carry half each for one; a finger carries a tenth of the diya; a tooth carries five camels. ^{20 21 22 6 23 24 25 7} For faculties such as reason, speech, taste, hearing, sight, smell, sexual capacity and fertility, the full diya is owed when the faculty is wholly lost, and a part according to the fraction lost, or a discretionary sum when the loss cannot be measured. ^{26 27 28 29}

Wounds to the head and face that fall short of the muwadiha (the first wound that exposes the bone) carry a discretionary sum, set by the judge with experts. The muwadiha is five camels, the hashima ten, the munqila fifteen, the ma'mouma (reaching the brain's membrane) a third, and the jaifa (piercing the trunk) a third. ^{30 31 32 8}

As a rule diyas multiply with the number of injuries and organs, unless they lead to death; when a wound ends in death, the diyas for the lesser injuries are merged into the diya for the life, unless healing intervened between them. Jurists differ over the cases of different kinds of killing and of several attackers. ^{8 9 33 34 14}

The victim receives the diya for an injury to a limb or faculty and may pardon it. The diya for a life is inherited by the heirs according to the shares fixed by law, excluding the killer; the wife inherits from her husband's diya, following a report about a woman of Ashyam. A diya is extinguished by a pardon; if some heirs pardon, the shares of the others remain. ^{35 36}