and the guiding rule is always to make things easy. Collection therefore begins with the nearest agnates: first the descendants of the killer’s own father, then the descendants of his paternal grandfather. A wealthy member is not required to pay on behalf of a poor one.

Mālik gave no weight to the government register (dīwān) when defining the ʿāqilah, remarking that people were already sharing blood-money before the dīwān existed. Clients (mawālī) stand in the same position as agnates and blood relatives. If no one within a man’s sub-clan, clan, or tribe can shoulder the obligation, the clan most closely related to them is joined in. Should a man have no ʿāqilah at all, the payment comes from the Muslims’ public treasury (Bayt al-Māl).

The ʿāqilah do not pay the diya for a person who kills himself, nor for a slave—because a slave is classed as property. They are not liable for damage to property, nor for blood-money that stems from deliberate homicide or from a confessed act, notwithstanding the differing reports from Mālik on a confession to accidental killing. This, God willing, is the view we hold to be sound.

Mālik and his companions recorded four opinions concerning someone who confesses to accidental homicide:

1. Nothing is due from him or from his ʿāqilah.
2. The guardians of the slain person swear together with the killer’s people and thereby obtain the diya from his ʿāqilah.
3. The entire diya is charged to the killer’s own wealth.
4. The diya is divided between him and his ʿāqilah; whatever portion he pays is his liability, and whatever falls on the ʿāqilah is waived for him.

The ʿāqilah bear liability for accidental offenses committed by an adult, and for offenses—intentional or accidental—committed by a discerning minor who has not yet reached puberty, provided the amount reaches one-third of a full diya or more; anything below that threshold is taken from the offender’s own property. When the heirs of a victim of intentional homicide agree to accept blood-money, it is paid from the killer’s assets.

Mālik’s statements differ regarding intentional wounds for which no retaliation is possible, such as a perforating body wound (jaʾifah), a skull-penetrating wound (maʾmūmah), and the like. One report assigns their compensation to the ʿāqilah; another charges it to the offender himself, in which case payment begins with his own wealth, and if he cannot cover it, the remainder is taken from the ʿāqilah.

As for the ʿāqilah of a dhimmī