for anyone else’s crime. Allah the Exalted says: “No bearer of a burden shall bear the burden of another” (al-Anʿām 6:164). To pursue a relative for the offender’s act was a practice of the Age of Ignorance that Islam abolished, and this pertains to deliberate killing in particular; the rulings for other categories will be discussed later.

2 – The ḥadith also points to the ruling of the ʿāqilah in the wise Islamic law. We shall set down a number of useful concise points on this subject, so as to complete the chapters on criminal law in this book and, by Allah’s permission, benefit the reader.

3 – The ʿāqilah are the male agnates by lineage: fathers, sons, paternal half-brothers, uncles and their sons, together with those related by walaʾ, near or distant. Because of their kinsman’s offence they are liable for one-third of the blood money or more.

4 – Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn said: Accidental homicide is something for which a person may be excused; imposing the entire blood money on one who erred would inflict great hardship for a wrong he never intended. The Lawgiver therefore obliged those who are bound to support and defend the killer to assist him in paying it. This resembles the financial maintenance that is obligatory for relatives, and thus the ʿāqilah’s liability accords with sound analogy.

5 – It is not a condition that the ʿāqilah be actual heirs at the time; it is sufficient that they would inherit were it not for an impediment of exclusion.

6 – No liability rests upon anyone who is not legally accountable, upon the poor, upon women, or upon someone who follows a religion other than that of the offender.

7 – The ʿāqilah do not bear the cost of a purely intentional homicide; their liability is restricted to accidental and quasi-intentional cases. Likewise, they do not cover a settlement reached after denial, a confession they do not affirm, compensation for damaged property, or any amount less than one-third of the full blood money; all such payments come from the offender’s own wealth.

8 – Whatever is due from the ʿāqilah is deferred over three years, counting from the moment the victim’s soul departs. With wounds, the year begins once the injury has healed. One-third of the amount is handed over at the end of each year; if the indemnity itself equals a single third—as in the case of a maʾmūmah wound—it becomes payable at the close of the first year, and if