—except that they stand on an equal footing with men in the law of retaliation for homicide, even though they are not equal in diyahs. Men and women are, however, treated alike in injuries whose compensation is less than one-third of a full diyah—such as mawāḍiḥ (bone-exposing cuts), munqalāt (displaced fractures), damage to the teeth, and the severing of fingers—and they are likewise equal in maʾmūmah brain wounds, jāʾifah cavity-penetrating wounds, and all injuries of lesser severity.
The diyah owed for a member of the People of the Book is one-half that of a Muslim—whether the payment is in gold, silver, camels, or in its aggravated form—provided they bring their case before us; the diyahs for their women are half those of their men. The diyah for a Zoroastrian man is eight hundred dirhams, and for a Zoroastrian woman four hundred.
In the case of wounds, a woman receives the same compensation as a man until the total reaches one-third of a man’s full diyah; after that it drops to one-half. Thus her finger equals his finger, her mawḍiḥah equals his mawḍiḥah, and her munqilah equals his munqilah until the compensation reaches one-third of a man’s diyah. For example, if three of a woman’s fingers are severed, the payment is thirty camels—ten for each finger, exactly as for a man. But if the fourth finger of the same hand is taken, the payment is five camels—unless it is from the other hand, in which case it is ten camels. This is Mālik’s view. ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz held that, whichever hand the additional finger comes from, the payment is ten camels because it is a new, independent injury.
As for the women of the People of the Book, compensation for their wounds is calculated on the same scale as for their men up to one-third of their diyah; beyond that they receive half the diyahs of their men.
When, in a case of intentional homicide, the heirs accept the diyah and pardon the killer, the diyah becomes part of the estate and is distributed according to the shares ordained by Allah among all the deceased’s heirs, male and female. Any diyah the deceased himself owed is settled from it, and no testamentary bequest may infringe upon it. The same rule applies to the diyah for accidental homicide: both male and female heirs inherit it. The diyah for accidental killing is borne by the ʿāqilah (the killer’s agnatic kin), whereas the diyah for intentional killing is taken from the killer’s own property. A deliberate killer inherits nothing—neither from the diyah nor from any other part of the estate.