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The question

What is the jurisprudence of lawful blood money (Diyya) for killing: its amount and the wisdom behind it, to refute misconceptions prevalent among people regarding it, such as someone saying that taking it makes the deceased a slave to the killer's family on the Day of Judgment, or considering it "the price of the deceased"?

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Source: FtawySummarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 20261 min readAlso available in العربية
The answer

"Diyya (blood money) is a right established by Allah for the heirs of the slain, as stated in Surat An-Nisa (chapter 4, verse 92). Diyya is waived if the heirs pardon the killer. The Diyya is borne by the 'Aqila (the male relatives on the paternal side of the killer), and its amount is one hundred camels, or one thousand gold dinars, or twelve thousand silver (dirhams). There is no validity to the claim that accepting Diyya makes the slain person a slave to the killer's family on the Day of Judgment, or that Diyya is the price of the slain, for a free person cannot be sold. Selling a free person and consuming their price is among the major sins. Diyya is compensation for the calamity that befell the family of the slain, and there is no harm in accepting it."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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