The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, inferred from this that whatever occurs singly in a human being entails the full blood-money; whatever occurs in pairs entails half the blood-money for each; and whatever occurs in threes entails one-third of the blood-money for each, while all of them together entail the full blood-money.

His statement, “For the four eyelids, the full blood-money is due, and for each eyelid one-quarter of it”: the eyelids are the coverings of the eyes. Each eye has two coverings, one above and the other below. Thus, for each eyelid one-quarter of the blood-money is due; for all four, the full blood-money; and for three, three-quarters of the blood-money. There is no difference in the indemnity between the upper and lower eyelids.

This is among those parts of which a human being has four. The author did not mention what occurs in fives, because this does not apply to bodily organs; rather, it applies to faculties. They said that there are five tastes: sweetness, bitterness, blandness, saltiness, and sourness. Thus, if someone assaults another person and deprives him of all five tastes, he owes the full blood-money; if he deprives him of one of them, he owes one-fifth of the blood-money.

His statement, “For the fingers of the two hands, the full blood-money is due, just as for the toes”: that is, just as the toes together entail the full blood-money, so too do the fingers together, even if he does not sever the hand or the foot. This is because these are organs of which a human being has a given number, and each organ therefore has its allotted share of the blood-money.

His statement, “For each finger, one-tenth of the blood-money is due”: thus, if it were supposed that the fingers of his