Chapter on Head Wounds and Broken Bones

A head wound is a wound specifically to the head or face. There are ten types: the ḥāriṣah, which slightly cuts the skin without drawing blood; then the bāzilah, also called the bloody or tearful wound, from which blood flows; then the bāḍiʿah, which cuts into the flesh; then the mutalāḥimah, which penetrates deeply into the flesh; then the simḥāq, in which only a thin membrane remains between the wound and the bone. For these five, there is no fixed compensation; rather, compensation is assessed by judicial evaluation, ...

His statement, “Head wounds,” is the plural of a head wound, while “broken bones” is self-explanatory.

His statement, “A head wound is a wound specifically to the head or face”: this is the definition of a head wound. Its meaning and scope are determined by Arabic usage, and the Arabs do not call a wound to the leg, thigh, chest, or elsewhere a head wound.

Among the Arabs, head wounds are of varying degrees. The author begins with the least severe and proceeds upward, saying: “There are ten types: the ḥāriṣah, which slightly cuts the skin without drawing blood.” It is very minor, like a scratch from a fingernail.

His statement, “Then the bāzilah, the bloody, tearful wound, from which blood flows”: bāzilah derives from bazl, meaning to split or cut open. From the same root are the cuts they make in date palms, splitting the palm so that its saline water may drain away. It is called “bloody” because blood becomes visible from it.

It is called “tearful” because blood flows from it, likened to the tears of the eye. Even if the blood is only a small drop, it is a bāzilah so long as blood has flowed.