Chapter on the Procedure for Retaliation

Where parity is attainable, and where scholars differ about it, the rules are as follows: a left limb is not amputated in return for a right, nor a lower lip for an upper one, nor the reverse; one phalanx is not taken for a different phalanx, and an extra digit in one place is not taken for an extra digit situated elsewhere. A difference in size, length, or gripping strength between two normal limbs is irrelevant, and—according to the sounder opinion—the same holds true for supernumerary limbs. In the case of a muḍiḥah (bone-exposing wound), its length and breadth must be matched, while any variance in the thickness of flesh or skin is disregarded. Even if he were to lay bare the whole of his head as well as the assailant’s head—