Islamic Fiqh > Penalties (hudud) > Qisas and diyat: homicide and compensation
The Quranic framework of homicide: equality before life, the heirs' right to pardon or accept compensation (diya), and the demanding procedure of proof.
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Updated on 31 August 2026 at 3:55 AM
An attack on life is not treated by a hadd but by the pair qisas (equal retribution) and diya (compensation). The encyclopedia begins by dividing homicides into categories, since the treatment depends on it.
The jurists distinguish intentional murder (qatl al-amd), murder by error (khata) and quasi-intentional murder (shibh al-amd). Intentional murder, for Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis, requires the intention to strike and the intention to kill with a usually lethal instrument; the Hanafis extend it to deliberately striking with a sharp instrument, whatever the spot aimed at. Pure error is a matter of consensus, Ibn al-Mundhir notes: aiming at something else and striking a person. Quasi-intentional joins the intention to strike without the intention to kill, as in striking with a small stick or a whip; Abu Hanifa adds heavy instruments not intended for combat, such as the heavy mallet or the large stone.
Qisas for intentional murder is unanimous (Ibn Hazm, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Qudama). Its known exceptions: the ascending parent who kills his child is not put to death, he pays the heaviest diya from his own property, based on the report where Umar says: « a parent is not killed for his child, and had I not heard the Messenger of Allah say it, I would have killed you » (Musnad Ahmad 346). The killer is barred from inheritance. Where the slain leaves several entitled heirs and one of them pardons, qisas falls away entirely and turns into diya: the four schools agree on this.
Hanafis and Hanbalis in the mazhab confine execution to the sword (understood as the sharp weapon), based on the saying: « No qisas except by the sword » (Ibn Majah 2667-2668, a report judged weak). Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis in a transmission execute by the very means of the crime: burned for the one who burned, drowned for the one who drowned, the choice retained by Ibn Taymiyya. The pardon of the heirs remains possible at any moment, as does redemption against the diya.
The one whose relative was slain has the better of two choices: execution or accepting the ransom.al-Bukhari 112 ; Muslim 1355
Consensus bears on the base amount: 100 camels for the life of a free Muslim man (Ibn al-Mundhir, al-Amrani). For the free woman, half, that is 50 camels, unanimously (al-Shafi'i: « I know of no disagreement on this »). On the form of payment: Abu Hanifa keeps 10,000 dirhams in silver; Malikis, Shafi'is (early view) and Hanbalis keep 12,000 dirhams; Shafi'is (late view) value it at the current market value. Cattle and garments are received only by mutual consent according to the majority; Hanbalis and Abu Yusuf and Muhammad make them original forms, based on Umar's assessment: 1,000 dinars in gold, 12,000 dirhams, 200 cows, 2,000 sheep, 200 garments (Abu Dawud 4542, hasan).
A woman struck her co-wife with a tent pole and killed her; the Prophet judged the diya against her kin group (aqila).Muslim 1682 ; Ibn Majah 2633
For homicide by error, the diya weighs on the aqila, the killer's kin group, while the expiation weighs on his own property. The wisdom given by the jurists: errors are frequent and the diya heavy; solidarity lightens the killer's burden and secures for the victim a possible compensation. Abu Bakr al-Jassas answers the objection drawn from the verse « no bearer of burdens bears the burden of another »: this is not a sin imposed on others, but an ordered solidarity of assistance, like zakat.
The system combines two logics: a sanction equal to the crime when intention is proven, an organized reparation when it is not. The detailed provisions (fetus, wounds, limbs) fill entire chapters of the encyclopedia.