Determining Diyah for Organs and Wounds in Islam
Author: Imran Ayub Lahori
General Principles
- Both eyes, lips, hands, feet, and testicles = full diyah
- One of these = half diyah
- Nose (if cut from the root), tongue, private organ, back = full diyah
- Wound reaching the brain or abdomen = one-third diyah
- Wound displacing a bone = fifteen camels (one-tenth plus half of one-tenth)
- Wound breaking a bone = ten camels (one-tenth diyah)
- Wound exposing the bone = five camels
Hadith Evidences
① In the letter of the Prophet ﷺ to the people of Yemen (narrated by ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm):
“For one unjustly killed, if witnesses testify, then qiṣāṣ applies — unless pardoned by heirs. The diyah of one soul is 100 camels. Full diyah applies for the nose if cut from the root, both eyes, the tongue, both lips, the private organ, both testicles, and the back. Half diyah applies for one foot. For wounds reaching the brain or abdomen, one-third diyah applies. For a broken bone, fifteen camels; for one tooth, five camels; and for exposing the bone, five camels.”
[Muwaṭṭa’: 2/849; Nasā’ī: 8/77; Abū Dāwūd in al-Marāsīl: 259; Dārimī: 2/188; Ibn Ḥibbān: 6559; Ḥākim: 1/395; Bayhaqī: 1/87; Dāraqutnī: 1/121; Ibn Khuzaymah: 2269]② Ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said:
هذه و هذه سواء يعنى الخنصر والإبهام
“This and this (the little finger and the thumb) are equal (in diyah).”
[Bukhārī: 6895; Abū Dāwūd: 4558; Tirmidhī: 1392; Nasā’ī: 8/56; Ibn Mājah: 6252; Aḥmad: 1/227]③ Another narration states:
دية أصابع اليدين والرجلين سواء عشر من الإبل لكل إصبع
“The diyah for fingers of the hands and feet is the same: ten camels for each finger.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Irwā’ al-Ghalīl: 2272; Tirmidhī: 1391; Ibn Ḥibbān: 12/60–13]④ Ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما) reported:
الأصابع سواء والأسنان سواء الثنية والضرس سواء
“All fingers are equal, and all teeth are equal — the incisors and molars alike.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Abū Dāwūd: 3813; Aḥmad: 1/289]⑤ ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, from his father, from his grandfather, narrated:
فى المواضح خمس خمس من الإبل
“For wounds that expose the bone, five camels (diyah).”
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Ibn Mājah: 2150, 2655; Irwā’ al-Ghalīl: 2285, 2288; Nasā’ī: 8/57; Tirmidhī: 1390; Aḥmad: 2/179]⑥ In another narration:
فى كل إصبع عشر من الإبل وفي كل سن خمس من الإبل
“For each finger, ten camels; and for each tooth, five camels.”
[Ḥasan: Abū Dāwūd: 3818, 4554; Nasā’ī: 8/57; Ibn Mājah: 2653; Ibn al-Jārūd: 781; Aḥmad: 2/217]⑦ Zayd ibn Thābit (رضي الله عنه) said:
أن النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم أو حب فى الهاشمة عشرا من الإبل
“The Prophet ﷺ ruled ten camels for a wound that breaks a bone.”
[Dāraqutnī: 3/201, 357; Bayhaqī: 8/82; ʿAbd al-Razzāq: 9/314, 17348]Scholarly Opinions
- Ḥanafīs, Shāfiʿīs: Each phalanx (joint) of a finger = one-third of its diyah; for the thumb, half its diyah.
- Imām Mālik: Even for the thumb, it remains one-third.
[Nayl al-Awṭār: 4/502] - Mālik & Shāfiʿī: For a molar, one camel.
- Another report from al-Shāfiʿī: every tooth = five camels (and this matches the authentic hadith).
[Al-Umm: 12/457; Bayhaqī: 8/90]
Other Wounds
For wounds not specifically mentioned, the diyah is determined by closest resemblance to the mentioned cases. In such matters, the ijtihād of a jurist applies, not just earlier sayings. For example, the amount of flesh removed is compared against full diyah, and diyah is decided proportionally.
[Al-Rawḍah al-Nadiyyah: 2/667; Al-Sayl al-Jarrār: 4/450]