Chapter: Retaliation in Cases of Limbs and Wounds

The obligation of retaliation for severed limbs and bodily wounds is established by the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the unanimous agreement of the scholars.

Allah the Exalted says: “We ordained for them therein: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, and for wounds—retaliation in kind” (5:45).

In the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections, concerning the incident in which al-Rubayʿ broke a woman’s incisor, the Prophet ﷺ ruled, “The Book of Allah prescribes retaliation.”

Thus, anyone who may lawfully be subjected to retaliation for taking a life may likewise be subjected to it for the loss of a limb or for wounds, provided the previously mentioned conditions are met: inviolability of the victim’s blood, legal responsibility of the offender, parity between the two regarding freedom or enslavement, and the absence of a direct parental relationship. In other words, the victim must be someone whose blood is protected, the offender must be legally accountable, the victim must be the offender’s equal in status—whether free or enslaved—and the offender must not be the victim’s father.

Conversely, whoever is exempt from retaliation in the case of homicide is also exempt from it with respect to limbs and wounds. This is the governing principle for this chapter.