Chapter: The Legal Rulings on Blood-Money

Blood-money, diyāt (singular: dīyah), is the sum handed over to an injured person—or to his heirs—because of a criminal offense. The Arabs say, wadaytu al-qatīl, meaning “I paid his blood-money.” Linguistically, dīyah is the verbal noun of wadiya; the final hāʾ replaces an original wāw that was dropped, just as in ʿiddah (waiting-period) from waʿada and silah (bond) from wasala.

The obligation to pay dīyah is proven by the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and scholarly consensus.

Allah the Exalted says: “Whoever kills a believer by mistake must set free a believing slave and pay blood-money, delivered to his family” (Q 4:92).

A sound hadith states: “Whoever has a relative slain has two options: either to accept compensation or to exact retribution,” narrated by all the major compilers.

Therefore, dīyah is due from anyone who takes a human life directly—such as striking him or running him over with a vehicle—or indirectly, as when someone digs a pit in a pathway or places a stone in it and a person dies because of it. The obligation applies whether the deceased was a Muslim, a dhimmī, a non-Muslim under safe-conduct, or an allied non-Muslim, for Allah the Most High also says: “And if he belonged to a people with whom you have a treaty, then blood-money must be paid to his family” (Q 4:92).