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.
Updated on 24 September 2026 at 12:48 AM
From this, the following points branch out.
The chapter is published in sections, each complete and directly accessible:
Bada'i al-Sana'i by al-Kasani · Hanafi school
...of himself, one then examines: if qisas can be applied, qisas is due; if it cannot, the arsh (compensation) is due.
As for unintentional killing: error may reside in the act itself, or in the doer's supposition. As for the first: like one who aims at game and strikes a human being, or aims at one man and strikes another; if he intended a member of a man and struck another member of him, that is deliberate and not error.
Bidayat al-Mujtahid by Ibn Rushd · comparative
And the majority only motivated the averting of the punishment from the father by the greatness of his right over his son; and what follows the principles of the zahirites is that he be subjected to qisas. Such is the statement on what obliges it.
The second section: the examination of what is due in qisas. As for the statement on what is due, they agreed that the guardian of the blood (wali ad-dam) has one of two choices: qisas, or pardon, whether against the diya or without the diya. And they disagreed.