the slain person’s heirs.

As for Allah’s right: if the murderer repents, Allah accepts his repentance—of that there is no doubt.

As for the victim’s own right: it rests with him, yet he has been killed and cannot be approached in this world. The question is whether sincere repentance means that Allah will assume the victim’s right on the killer’s behalf and discharge it for him, or whether the murderer must still face retaliation on the Day of Resurrection. Scholars differ on this point. Some hold that the victim’s right is not annulled by repentance, because one of the conditions of repentance is to restore wrongs to their owners, and the murdered person cannot have his grievance returned to him; therefore retribution must be taken from the killer on Judgment Day. Others, however, take the plain sense of the verses we cited from Sūrat al-Furqān to indicate that Allah grants complete repentance, and that—out of His generosity, kindness, and grace—if He knows His servant’s repentance to be genuine, He will assume on his behalf the right owed to his slain brother.

The third right is that of the victim’s heirs, and this must be settled, for it lies within the murderer’s power to do so. He should surrender himself to them and say, “I killed your relative; do with me as you wish.” At that point they have four options: they may pardon him outright; they may put him to death in retaliation (qisās); they may accept the blood-money (diyah); or they may reach a settlement for an amount equal to or less than the diyah. All of this is unanimously permissible.

If they refuse to waive their right unless they receive more than the standard diyah, scholars disagree. Some say it is permissible for them to settle for more than the diyah, because the right is theirs: if they wish, they may demand execution; if they wish, they may say, “We will not pardon you unless you pay ten diyahs,” and this