and for a fracture of the shin-bone and a fracture of the ulna as well, on account of what Saʿīd narrated from ʿAmr b. Shuʿayb: “ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ wrote to ʿUmar about the breaking of one of the two ulnae. ʿUmar wrote back, ‘Its indemnity is two camels; and if both ulnae are broken, four camels are due.’” None of the Companions are known to have opposed this ruling.

These are the injuries and fractures for which a specific amount has come down to us. Any other wound or bone fracture—such as injury to the vertebrae or the pubic bone—is subject to discretionary assessment (ḥukūmah).

Ḥukūmah means that the injured person is appraised as though he were a slave with no injury, and again after the wound has healed; whatever diminution is found in his value, he is entitled to the same proportion of the full blood-money.

Example: suppose that, as a sound slave, his value would have been sixty, but with the injury it is fifty. One-sixth of the blood-money becomes due, because the loss in valuation is one part out of six, which is one-sixth of his value. Thus the injured party receives one-sixth of the full indemnity.

Al-Muwaffaq (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “The sound opinion is that no fixed amount exists for anything other than the five bones—the rib, the two collarbones, and the two ulnae—for the stated valuations are established only by explicit texts, while the evidence indicates that a ḥukūmah is required for all the other internal bones, meaning everything besides these five, in accordance with ʿUmar’s judgment …” End quote.

The jurists (may Allah show them mercy) said: If the wound that requires a ḥukūmah occurs in a place for which the Law has already set a fixed amount—such as a head wound that falls short of a muḍḥiḥah (bone-exposing wound)—the ḥukūmah may not be allowed to reach the indemnity of a muḍḥiḥah, because were the wound