Chapter on the Aqila (blood-money obligors)

In cases of quasi-deliberate or accidental homicide, the diya (blood-money) is borne by the aqila, and every diya that becomes due solely on account of a killing devolves upon them.

The aqila for those enrolled in the diwan (state register) are the other members of that diwan.

If the killer is on the diwan, the payment is taken from their stipends over three years. Should the stipends be distributed over a period longer or shorter than three years, the required share is taken from whatever distributions occur.

If the killer is not on the diwan, his aqila is his tribe. The diya is apportioned among them over three years, and no individual may be assessed more than four dirhams per year; any excess above that is waived. If the tribe cannot cover the full amount, the geographically nearest tribes are added to them.

The killer himself joins his aqila and contributes the same share as any one of them.

The aqila of a freed slave is the tribe of his former master. In a relationship of contractual alliance (walāʾ), the patron and his tribe pay on his behalf. The aqila are never liable for less than one-twentieth of the diya; they are responsible for that amount and anything above it, while anything below that threshold is paid from the offender’s own property.

The aqila do not pay for a slave’s wrongdoing, nor for an offence that the perpetrator has confessed to—unless they confirm his confession—nor for any liability that arises from a private settlement.

If a free man unintentionally injures a slave, the liability falls upon his aqila.