Cases in which there is no retaliation

Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: There is no retaliation for bones.

Ata' bin Abi Rabah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A man broke another man's thigh. The dispute came before Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). The man said: O Commander of the Believers! Get me retaliation. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: You will not get retaliation; you will get blood money. The man said: You have made me like the speckled snake: if it is killed it takes revenge, and if it is left alone it bites. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: You are indeed like the speckled snake.

Abu al-Zinad (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates from the jurists of Madinah that there is retaliation for every fracture and wound, except that there is no retaliation for a head wound (ma'mumah), a belly wound (ja'ifah), or a wound that destroys (a limb); for these there is blood money. And Isa (may Allah have mercy on him) says in his narration: They used to say: The thigh is among the (injuries) that destroy.
This has been narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with chains the like of which are not established.

Sayyiduna Talhah (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There is no retaliation for a head wound (ma'mumah)."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abbas bin Abd al-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There is no retaliation for an ordinary head wound (ma'mumah), a belly wound (ja'ifah), or a head wound from which bone fragments come out (munaqqilah)."

Nimran bin Jariyah narrates from his father (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man struck another man on his forearm with a sword and cut it off at a place other than the joint. He came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered blood money. The man said: I want retaliation. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "May Allah bless you in it; take the blood money." And he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not grant him retaliation.

Tawus (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There is no divorce before ownership, and there is no retaliation for wounds less than a mudihah (a wound that exposes the bone)."
This narration is munqati' (its chain is broken).

Tariq (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Sayyiduna Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) took retaliation even for a slap.

Amr bin Dinar said: Ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) took retaliation even for a slap. Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It is like this in my book too.

Sufyan (may Allah have mercy on him), in the narration of Yahya (may Allah have mercy on him), said: Ibn Shubrumah (may Allah have mercy on him) and Ibn Abi Layla (may Allah have mercy on him) differed about this. Ibn Shubrumah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I would take retaliation. Ibn Abi Layla (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I do not know; perhaps the slap was hard and the one given in return is lighter than it, or it was lighter and the one given in return is harder than it.
The Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The jurists of the (major) cities hold that there is no retaliation for it. Allah Almighty says: "And in retaliation there is life for you" [Surah al-Baqarah: 179]; retaliation means equality and likeness, and equality between two slaps is not possible. And Allah knows best.
We have already narrated, in the chapter on the ruler killing or wounding (someone), reports that give the impression that retaliation is obligatory for striking with a stick or a whip. We interpret this as referring to a wound in which likeness can be measured, and this is also stated in some of those reports; or we interpret it as meaning that he considered it a discretionary punishment (ta'zir) to do to him an act of the same kind as his. And Allah knows best.