what you were made to suffer.” Allah Most High also says:

“The recompense of an evil deed is an evil deed like it.”

This is also indicated by His words in the hadith:

“My servants, I have forbidden injustice to Myself and have made it forbidden among you, so do not wrong one another.”

This addresses all servants: no one is to wrong anyone else. The ordering of human affairs under the Sharia rests upon this principle: justice concerning lives, property, sexual relations, lineage, and honour. Hence the Sunnah prescribes equivalent retaliation in these matters, responding to the aggressor with the like of his action. Yet determining or achieving exact equivalence may be impossible or difficult. What is then obligatory is the closest approximation possible. Thus one says, “This is a closer match,” or, “This is a closer likeness.” This is the best course because it most closely approximates what is truly just and right, when exact justice itself lies beyond one’s ability. Hence Allah Most High says:

“Give full measure and weight with justice. We do not burden any soul beyond its capacity.”

When commanding that full measure and weight be given with justice, He states that He does not burden any soul beyond its capacity. This is because measuring inevitably leaves one of two measured quantities greater than the other, even if only by a grain or a few grains. Likewise, a slight, unavoidable discrepancy may occur in weighing. Thus Allah Most High says:

“We do not burden any soul beyond its capacity.”

For this reason, equivalent retaliation is prescribed when it can be exacted without unjust excess, as with wounds that reach a bone and limbs that end at a joint. If exacting retaliation would involve unjust excess, recourse is made to its substitute, namely