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The first degree of wound is the hārisa, which lightly scrapes or peels the skin. Next is the dāmiya, which draws blood without any flowing from it. It is also said that the dāmiya comes first, followed by the hārisa. Another view identifies the dāmiya with the hārisa itself, followed by the dāmigha, from which blood flows. It is also said that the dāmiya and the dāmigha are the same.

Next is the bādiʿa, which cuts into the flesh, followed by the mutalāhima, which penetrates the flesh, and then the simhāq. Ibn Habīb said that the simhāq is the hārisa, which splits the skin. The former usage, however, is more general and more common: it is a wound separated from the bone by a thin membrane. It is also called the miltā, or miltāh with a final h. Next is the mūdiha, which exposes the bone, revealing its whiteness; then the hāshima, which crushes the bone; then the munaqqila, which breaks the bone so that bone fragments must be removed for the wound to heal; and finally the ma’mūma, also called the āmma, which reaches the “mother of the head,” namely the brain.

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As for wounds less severe than the mūdiha, Mālik, may Allah have mercy on him, holds that no prescribed amount of compensation applies. His ruling is the same whether they occur on the head or elsewhere on the body: according to his school, intentional injuries entail equal retaliation, while accidental injuries entail judicially assessed compensation if they heal leaving disfigurement.

Mālik narrates from Yazīd ibn Qusayt, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, that ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb and ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān awarded half the compensation prescribed for a mūdiha for a miltā, which is the simhāq. Yet Mālik says in his Muwatta’: “The authorities in our land, past and present, have not awarded compensation for wounds less severe than the mūdiha.” These statements may be reconciled by understanding ʿUmar’s and ʿUthmān’s award for the miltāh as compensation determined through independent assessment, rather than as a fixed amount prescribed by law. The same explanation has been given for Zayd ibn Thābit’s ruling concerning a sightless but intact eye.

It is reported that the Prophet ﷺ “awarded one-third of the blood money for a sightless eye that remained intact, filling its socket.” This was recorded by Abū Dāwūd.

It is also reported that Zayd ibn Thābit said: “For a dāmiya, one camel; for a bādiʿa, two camels; for a mutalāhima, three camels; and for a simhāq,