the first man. ʿAlī therefore rejected their testimony regarding the second, obliged them to pay the diyah (blood money) of the first, and said, “Had I known you did this deliberately, I would have cut off your hands.” This is narrated by al-Bukhārī and others. The report shows that if they had knowingly given false testimony, qisās (retaliatory punishment) would have been taken from each of them, by analogy with the rule that a whole group may be executed for the murder of a single person.

The subsequent spread of an injury—whether it reaches the victim’s life or remains below that level—takes the same ruling as the original assault, for it is merely its effect, and the effect of a liable act is itself liable. Hence, if someone severs one finger and, as a consequence, another finger or even the entire hand becomes gangrenous and falls off at the wrist, retaliation is required for the loss of the hand. Should the injury progress to the point that the victim dies, qisās for intentional homicide becomes obligatory.

It is impermissible to carry out retaliation on a limb or wound before it has healed. Jābir reported that “a man wounded another and wished to exact retaliation, but the Prophet ﷺ forbade retaliation against the assailant until the injured person had recovered,” related by al-Dāraquṭnī and others. This protects the victim, because the harm may spread to another limb or even prove fatal, and one must first ascertain the ultimate extent of the injury. If retaliation is performed before recovery and the harm later spreads, the claimant has no further right, for he acted prematurely and thereby forfeited his claim.

ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb narrates from his father, from his grandfather, that a man stabbed another in the knee with a horn. He came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, “Exact retaliation for me.” The Prophet replied, “Wait until you recover.” The man returned and said, “Exact retaliation for me,” so the Prophet allowed it. He then returned once more and said, “Messenger of Allah, I have begun to limp.” The Prophet said, “I told you to wait but you disobeyed me; may Allah distance you—your limp is of no account.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then forbade that retaliation be carried out