‘Diyat’ means
‘pecuniary fine to be paid by the murderer’. ‘Ersh’, on the other hand, is a
pecuniary fine levied for crimes that do not involve death. Fine to be levied
for a homicide perpetrated with ‘shabah-i-’amd’, (which has been defined
earlier in the text,) is a heavy diyat, i.e. (payment of) a hundred camels.
Twenty-five of the camels shall have reached the age of two; twenty-five of
them shall be at least three years old, twenty-five of them four years old, and
the last twenty-five have to be five years old; and all of them shall be female
camels. According to a few Islamic scholars, a thousand gold dinârs may be
paid, instead. ‘Dinâr’ means a minted gold coin weighing a mithqâl.[1] The diyat to be paid
by a person who has committed a homicide by mistake is, again, a hundred
camels. Yet this time the number of each age-group of the young camels cited in
the former case shall be twenty, and twenty other two-year old male camels in
addition. Or, a thousand gold dinârs, or ten thousand dirhams of silver, may be
paid, instead. According to the Two Imâms ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ‘alaihima’, the
person who committed the crime has a choice to make between any one of these
three alternatives and two hundred head of cattle or two thousand sheep or two
hundred two-piece sets of clothing such as pants-and-shirt, [and
trousers-and-jacket.]
Kaffârat for these two types of
homicide, as well as for homicide by way of the cause of a mistake, (i.e. the
aforesaid fourth type of homicide,) is to manumit a slave who is a Mu’min,
(i.e. a Believer in the Islamic religion.) A person who is unable to do so will
fast for two months running. Kaffârat in this respect does not contain the
version of feeding poor people. (Please scan the sixth chapter of the fifth
fascicle of Endless Bliss!) Diyat for a woman murdered is half that for a man murdered.
Diyat for a dhimmî or a musta’min (murdered) is identical with that for a
Muslim.
Diyats for crimes of
depriving a person of a limb or of natural beauty are identical with the diyats
for the aforesaid crimes. A complete diyat will be paid for limbs of which
every individual person has a single one, such as a nose, a tongue, and a male
genital organ. Other losses that require a complete diyat are sensory and
motional deprivations such as mental derangement;
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[1] Please see the fourth kind of ‘hadd’ in the
tenth chapter for ‘mithqâl’.
psychiatric disorder; deafness; loss of
sense of taste; anosmia; loss of sight; loss of speech; a paralyzed hand; and
enuresis. A complete diyat will be paid for both of double limbs such as eyes;
ears; eye-brows; lips; breasts of a woman; and feet, and half a diyat for one
of each pair. With limbs that are in quartets, e.g. eye-lashes, a quarter diyat
will be paid for each row; one-tenth of a diyat will be paid for a finger or
toe; and one-twentieth of a diyat for a tooth. A complete diyat will be
required for having a person’s hair or beard shaved in such a manner as it will
never grow again. If the hair or the beard grows again a year later, the person
who had it shaved by using force will not have to pay diyat. However, he will
be punished for having committed an act that is not halâl.
Qisâs for hair and
beard is inapplicable. A diyat for a woman’s tooth is half one that is for a
man’s.
If a person causes a
woman to abort her unborn baby by hitting her or giving her a drug, that
person’s ’âqila will pay one-twentieth of a diyat. A complete diyat will have
to be paid if the baby is aborted alive and dies thereafter.
If a woman has an
abortion or gets her nonviable fetus aborted by using drugs or other methods
without her husband’s permission, her ’âqila will pay one-twentieth of a diyat,
which is worth five hundred dirhams of silver, to the woman’s husband. Nothing
will be required if the husband consented to the process.
’Âqila means ‘murderer’s
‘jihâd’ companions, assistants’. The ’âqila of a murderer who does not have
such assistants are his tribe, who are his assistants, or his kinsfolk. ‘Fellow
villagers’ or ‘fellow citizens’ is meant by ‘his tribe’. The diyat incumbent upon
the murderer will be charged in certain shares to these assistants of his, and
it will be exacted within three years. The amount to be exacted from one person
in three years cannot be more than four dirhams (of silver). Women or children
or insane people will not be included in the ’âqila. A disbeliever and a Muslim
will not be ’âqila for each other.
If a Muslim murderer
does not have ’âqila or inheritors, his diyat will be paid by the Beyt-ul-mâl,
i.e. by the government. If there is not a Beyt-ul-mâl, either, he himself will
pay it within three years. If a dhimmî does not have ’âqila, he himself will
pay the ’âqila in three years. A Muslim who kills another Muslim in the
Dâr-ul-harb will pay the diyat incumbent on him in three years. It is out of
the question there to be ’âqila in the Dâr-ul-harb. Non-Arabians called ’ajams
cannot have ’âqila.
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It is stated as
follows in the fatwâ of Abu-s-su’ûd Efendi ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ‘alaih’, [no. 706,] which exists in the
Lala Ismâ’îl section of the Library of Suleymâniyye, (in Istanbul:) “If a dead
person is found hanging in a house or shop, its diyat will be paid by the
landlord, according to Imâm A’zam Abû Hanîfa ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, and
by the tenant, according to Imâm Abû Yûsuf ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’. The
fatwâ is in agreement with Abû Yûsuf’s ijtihâd.”
A look from a scholar is a treasure hardly attainable;
Sohbat in
his presence is a library inexhaustible.