Chapter on Blood-Money (diyah) and Its Succession

The blood-money for accidental homicide—and for deliberate homicide when the victim’s heirs consent to accept it—is, if paid in gold, 1,000 dinars, and if paid in silver, 12,000 dirhams.

Those who usually settle the diyah in gold are the people of Egypt, the towns of the Ḥijaz, the Maghrib, and any region where gold coin is the dominant currency. Those who pay it in silver are the people of Iraq, Persia, Khurasan, al-Andalus, and every land in which the dirham prevails.

For those whose wealth consists of camels—the desert-dwellers and Bedouins—only camels are taken in payment.

When the diyah is paid in camels, the amount then differs between an accepted diyah for intentional killing and that for accidental killing. The diyah for deliberate homicide, once accepted, is divided into four equal quarters: 25 bint makhāḍ (one-year-old female camels), 25 bint labūn (two-year-old females), 25 ḥiqah (three-year-old females fit for riding), and 25 jazʿah (four-year-old females).

The diyah for accidental killing is divided into five equal parts: 20 bint makhāḍ, 20 bint labūn, 20 ibn labūn (two-year-old male camels), 20 ḥiqah, and 20 jazʿah.

An aggravated diyah is paid in three portions: 30 ḥiqahs, 30 jazʿahs, and 40 khalifah—pregnant camels carrying their unborn young—without any restriction on age. Mālik, however, does not consider the diyah to be subject to such aggravation.