with the passage of time and from place to place; the same is true of two hundred cattle and two thousand sheep. Thus, their value cannot be fixed in dirhams and dinars, whereas dirhams and dinars are generally stable. The amount in dirhams is twelve thousand dirhams, or eight thousand four hundred mithqāls; and the amount in dinars is one thousand dinars, which is one thousand mithqāls. A mithqāl equals four and one-quarter grams. By this measure, you can calculate all the dirhams and dinars of the world and determine the amount of blood-money in gold and silver in any place.
As for camels, cattle, and sheep, their values are subject to supply and demand, abundance and scarcity, and vary according to time and place.
These are the established forms of blood-money. Whichever of them the person liable for it presents, the legal heir is obliged to accept it. Thus, for intentional killing and its quasi-intentional equivalent, it consists of twenty-five bint makhāḍ, twenty-five bint labūn, twenty-five hiqqah, and twenty-five jadhaʿah, ....................
His statement, “These are the established forms of blood-money”: “These” is a demonstrative pronoun, referring to the five categories mentioned previously: camels, cattle, sheep, gold, and silver. These, then, are the established forms of blood-money. This is the position adopted by the author, and it is one of the reports from Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him.
The second report is that there is a sixth established form: garments, the plural of garment, consisting of a lower wrap and an upper cloak. The blood-money in garments is two hundred outfits.
The third report is that camels alone are the established basis, while everything else is valued in reference to them and is not itself a basis. This is because all bodily injuries for which fixed compensations are prescribed are assessed in camels: for a wound exposing the bone, there are five camels; for a tooth, five camels; and for a finger, ten camels. The Lawgiver always assesses the portions of blood-money in camels. This proves that camels are the basis, and that the silver, gold, cattle, and sheep mentioned are merely for valuation and are subsidiary.