The Diyah of a Woman Compared to a Man
Author: Imran Ayub Lahori
Half of a Man’s Diyah
The diyah of a woman is half that of a man. The same principle applies to those body parts where the diyah exceeds one-third of the total.
① ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, from his father, from his grandfather, narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
وه عقل المرأة مثل عقل الرجل حتى يبلغ الثلث من ديته
“The diyah of a woman is like that of a man until it reaches one-third of her diyah (beyond that, it is not the same).”
[Ḍaʿīf: Irwā’ al-Ghalīl: 2254; Dāraqutnī: 3/91; ʿAbd al-Razzāq: 17756; Nasā’ī: 8/44]Shaykh Ḥāzim ʿAlī Qāḍī, however, graded this narration as ṣaḥīḥ.
[Taʿlīq ʿalā Sabil al-Salām: 3/1613]② ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (رضي الله عنه) said:
فدية المرأة على النصف من دية الرجل
“The diyah of a woman is half that of a man.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Irwā’ al-Ghalīl: 7/307, ḥadīth no. 2250; Ibn Abī Shaybah: 11/2/28]③ Rabiʿah ibn Abī ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated that he asked Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib about the diyah of a woman’s fingers:
- One finger → ten camels.
- Two fingers → twenty camels.
- Three fingers → thirty camels.
- Four fingers → twenty camels.
Rabiʿah objected:
لمـا عـظـم جـرحها واشتدت مصيبتها نقـص عـقـلـهـا؟
“When her injury increased and her suffering became severe, did her diyah decrease?”
Saʿīd replied:
هي السنة يا ابن أخى
“My nephew, this is the Sunnah.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Irwā’ al-Ghalīl: 2555; Muwaṭṭa’: 2/860; Bayhaqī: 8/69]Scholarly Consensus
This is the position of the majority of scholars — including the scholars of Madinah, Mālikīyah, Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, Imām Aḥmad, Imām Isḥāq, and Imām al-Shāfiʿī (رحمهم الله).
[Nayl al-Awṭār: 4/510]