And a group of followers of Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī and Ahmad cite this verse as evidence that a free person is not to be executed for killing a slave, because Allah says:

“A slave for a slave.”

Their argument, however, is countered by the case of a woman, for He also says:

“A female for a female.”

Some Quran commentators have mentioned only this interpretation.

“The second interpretation” is that retribution for those killed applies between two groups fighting out of tribal partisanship and pre-Islamic ignorance, with free persons, slaves and women killed on both sides. Allah Most High commanded that justice be established between the two groups by offsetting the blood money for a free person against that for a free person, that for a woman against that for a woman, and that for a slave against that for a slave. If, after this offsetting, anything remains due to either group, it should seek payment from the other fairly, and the other should pay it graciously. This is the view of al-Sha‘bī and others, and Muhammad ibn Jarīr al-Tabarī and others have mentioned it.

On this interpretation, taking it as the apparent meaning of the verse gives rise to difficulties. Yet the second meaning is what the verse signifies and entails, and it presents no difficulty, whereas the first interpretation is inferred from the verse, as we shall point out, if Allah Most High wills. What we have stated becomes clear in several ways.

The first is that He said:

“Retribution is prescribed for you in cases of murder.”

The word qisās (retribution) is a verbal noun of qāssahu, yuqāssuhu, whose verbal-noun forms are muqāssah and qisās. An example is offsetting two debts against each other. Retribution concerning those killed applies only when all those concerned have been killed, as al-Sha‘bī explained: those killed on one side are offset against those killed on the other. But if someone kills