The Book on Blood Money

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ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd reported that the Messenger of Allah ruled that the blood money for accidental killing consists of twenty she-camels in their second year, twenty male camels in their second year, twenty she-camels in their third year, twenty four-year-old camels, and twenty three-year-old camels. Reports on this subject are also narrated from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr. Abū ʿĪsā said: We know this report as a Prophetic hadith only through this chain; it is also narrated from ʿAbd Allāh as a Companion’s statement. Aḥmad and Isḥāq held this view. Scholars agreed that blood money is paid over three years, one third each year, and that the clan bears liability for accidental killing. Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī held that the clan consists of a man’s paternal relatives. Others said that only male adult agnates bear the payment, each contributing a quarter dinar; some said up to half a dinar, after which the nearest tribes are required to contribute until the sum is complete.

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ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb reported from his father, from his grandfather, that the Messenger of Allah said: “Whoever deliberately kills a believer is handed over to the victim’s heirs. If they wish, they may execute him; if they wish, they may accept blood money: thirty four-year-old camels, thirty three-year-old camels, and forty pregnant she-camels. Whatever settlement they agree upon is theirs.” This is to impose a stricter liability. Abū ʿĪsā said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr’s hadith is ḥasan gharīb.

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Ibn ʿAbbās reported that the Prophet set blood money at twelve thousand.

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Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Makhzūmī narrated a similar report from ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, from ʿIkrimah, from the Prophet, omitting Ibn ʿAbbās. Ibn ʿUyaynah’s version contains additional material. Abū ʿĪsā said: We know no one who mentions Ibn ʿAbbās in this report besides Muḥammad ibn Muslim. Some scholars, including Aḥmad and Isḥāq, acted according to it. Others set blood money at ten thousand; this is the view of Sufyān al-Thawrī and the scholars of Kūfah. Al-Shāfiʿī said: I know blood money only as one hundred camels or their value.

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ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb reported that the Prophet said: “For wounds that expose bone, the compensation is five camels.” Abū ʿĪsā said: This is a ḥasan hadith. Scholars acted according to it; this is the view of Sufyān al-Thawrī, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, and Isḥāq.

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Ibn ʿAbbās reported that the Messenger of Allah said: “The blood money for fingers on the hands and feet is equal: ten camels for each finger.” Reports on this subject are also narrated from Abū Mūsā and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr. Ibn ʿAbbās’s hadith is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ gharīb through this chain. Scholars acted according to it; this is the view of Sufyān, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, and Isḥāq.

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Ibn ʿAbbās reported that the Prophet said, indicating his little finger and thumb: “These two are equal.”

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Abū al-Dardāʾ reported that a Qurashī man broke a man of the Anṣār’s tooth. The Anṣārī brought his case to Muʿāwiyah and said: “Commander of the Faithful, this man broke my tooth.” Muʿāwiyah replied: “We will satisfy you.” But the man pressed him until Muʿāwiyah became frustrated and said: “You deal with your opponent yourself.” Abū al-Dardāʾ was sitting with him and said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah say: ‘No person suffers an injury to his body and then pardons it except that Allah raises him a degree and removes a sin from him.’” The Anṣārī asked: “Did you hear this from the Messenger of Allah?” He replied: “My ears heard it and my heart retained it.” The man said: “Then I waive my claim against him.” Muʿāwiyah said: “Indeed, I will not disappoint you,” and ordered that he be given money. Abū ʿĪsā said: This is a gharīb hadith; we know it only through this chain. We do not know that Abū al-Safar heard from Abū al-Dardāʾ. Abū al-Safar’s name is given as Saʿīd ibn Aḥmad, also said to be Ibn Yuḥmid al-Thawrī.

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Anas reported that a young girl wearing silver ornaments went out, and a Jewish man took her, crushed her head with a stone, and took the jewelry she wore. She was found while still alive and brought to the Prophet. He asked: “Did so-and-so kill you?” She shook her head to indicate no. He asked about another man, until the Jewish man was named, and she nodded to indicate yes. The man was seized and confessed. The Messenger of Allah ordered that his head be crushed between two stones. Abū ʿĪsā said: This is a ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ hadith. Some scholars, including Aḥmad and Isḥāq, acted according to it. Others held that retaliation may be carried out only with a sword.

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ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr reported that the Prophet said: “The passing of the world is less significant to Allah than the killing of a Muslim man.”

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A similar report was narrated from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, but Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar and others transmitted it from Shuʿbah without attributing it to the Prophet. Abū ʿĪsā said: This version is more accurate. Reports on this subject are also narrated from Saʿd, Ibn ʿAbbās, Abū Saʿīd, Abu Hurairah, ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir, Ibn Masʿūd, and Buraydah. Ibn Abī ʿAdī narrated it from Shuʿbah as a Prophetic report, while Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar and others, as well as Sufyān al-Thawrī, narrated it as ʿAbd Allāh’s statement. The latter version is more accurate than the marfūʿ report.

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ʿAbd Allāh reported that the Messenger of Allah said: “The first matter to be judged among people will be cases involving bloodshed.” Abū ʿĪsā said: ʿAbd Allāh’s hadith is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ. More than one narrator transmitted it from al-Aʿmash as a Prophetic report, while some narrated it from al-Aʿmash without attributing it to the Prophet.

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ʿAbd Allāh reported that the Messenger of Allah said: “The first matter to be judged among people will be cases involving bloodshed.”

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Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī and Abu Hurairah reported that the Messenger of Allah said: “If the people of heaven and earth joined together in killing a believer, Allah would cast them all into the Fire.” Abū ʿĪsā said: This is a gharīb hadith. Abū al-Ḥakam al-Bajalī was ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Nuʿm, a man of Kūfah.

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Surāqah ibn Mālik ibn Juʿshum said: “I was present when the Messenger of Allah ruled that a father is not subject to retaliation for killing his child, but a child is subject to retaliation for killing his father.” Abū ʿĪsā said: We know this report from Surāqah only through this chain, which is not sound. Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated it from al-Muthannā ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ, who was considered weak. Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar narrated it from al-Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāh, from ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, from his father, from his grandfather, from ʿUmar, from the Prophet; it has also been narrated as mursal from ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb. The reports are inconsistent. Scholars held that a father is not executed for killing his child and is not subject to the prescribed punishment for accusing his child of illicit sex.

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ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb reported that he heard the Messenger of Allah say: “A father is not subject to retaliation for killing his child.”

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Ibn ʿAbbās reported that the Prophet said: “Prescribed punishments are not carried out in mosques, and a father is not executed for killing his child.” Abū ʿĪsā said: We know this as a Prophetic report with this chain only through Ismāʿīl ibn Muslim al-Makkī, whom some scholars criticized because of his memory.

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ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd reported that the Messenger of Allah said: “The blood of a Muslim who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah is not lawful except in one of three cases: a previously married adulterer, a life for a life, and one who abandons his religion and separates from the community.” Reports on this subject are also narrated from ʿUthmān, ʿĀʾishah, and Ibn ʿAbbās. Ibn Masʿūd’s hadith is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.

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Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet said: “Whoever kills a person under a covenant of protection from Allah and His Messenger has violated Allah’s protection and will not smell the fragrance of Paradise, though its fragrance can be detected from a distance of seventy years.” A report on this subject is also narrated from Abū Bakrah. Abu Hurairah’s hadith is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ, and it has been narrated through other chains.

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The Messenger of Allah paid blood money on behalf of the two men of Banū ʿĀmir, according to the blood money owed by Muslims, because they had a treaty of protection. This report is gharīb, known only through this chain. Abū Saʿd al-Baqqāl is Saʿīd ibn al-Marzubān.