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What is the ruling on money acquired as compensation for humiliation by "being beaten with a shoe in front of a large crowd," as sanctioned by a tribal council, and is it permissible to give charity from it or use it for living expenses?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Firstly: It is permissible to resort to customary councils to resolve disputes, provided that the judge is knowledgeable in Sharia law and rules according to what Allah has revealed.

Secondly: Scholars have differed regarding the ruling on qisas (retaliation) for a slap or similar acts. The correct view is that it necessitates qisas, and this is the madhhab (school of thought) of the Companions and the Rightly Guided Caliphs, based on the Almighty's saying: "The recompense for an evil deed is an evil deed like it," and "So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in like manner as he assaulted you." This is also established from the Rightly Guided Caliphs.

Thirdly: The one who was struck has the right to qisas in kind, without exceeding limits or injustice, or to pardon the aggressor freely, which is preferable if the wrongdoer regrets and rectifies his conduct, or to take material compensation for the strike, and not for the insult; because the insult is a moral harm for which financial compensation is generally not permissible according to most scholars.

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

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