An-Nisa 4:43–92

O you who believe, draw not near to prayer, that is, do not perform prayer, whilst you are inebriated, by a drink: this was revealed concerning being drunk during the congregational prayer; until you know what you are saying, when you have sobered up; nor whilst you are defiled, as a result of [sexual] penetration or ejaculation (junuban, ‘defiled’, is in the accusative because it is a circumstantial qualifier, and may be used to refer to the singular or plural) — unless you are traversing, crossing, a way, a route, that is, [unless] you are travelling — until you have washed yourselves, in which case you may perform prayer: a proviso is made for the traveller because a different stipulation applies to him, as will follow. It is said that the purpose [of this verse] is to prohibit the approach to places of prayer, that is, mosques, the exception being if one were merely passing through and not staying. But if you are sick, with an illness made worse by [contact with] water, or on a journey, that is, [or] travelling whilst you are [ritually] defiled or impure, or if any of you comes from the privy (al-ghā’it), a place designated for relieving nature, that is to say, [or if any of you] have defecated, or you have touched women (lāmastum, a variant reading has lamastum: both mean lams, that is, ‘touching with the hand’, as stated by Ibn ‘Umar; this is also the opinion of al-Shāfi‘ī, and it extends to touching with other parts of the skin; according to Ibn ‘Abbās, however, it is [referring to] sexual intercourse); and you can find no water, with which to purify yourselves for prayer, having made the effort to seek it out and search for it — the sick being exempt in this case — then resort to, seek, when the time [for the prayer] has commenced, wholesome soil, clean earth, strike it twice, and wipe your faces and your hands, with it, up to the elbows (the verb masaha, ‘to wipe’, may stand on its own with a direct object or take a particle [before the direct object, sc. masaha bi-]). God is ever Pardoning, Forgiving.

Have you not seen those who were given a share, a portion, of the Book, namely, the Jews, purchasing error, with guidance, and desiring that you should err from the way?, that you should stray from the path of truth and be like them.

God has better knowledge of your enemies, than you do, and He informs you of them in order that you avoid them. God suffices as a Protector, a Preserver of you from them, God suffices as a Helper, defending you against their plotting.

Some, group, from among the Jews distort, alter, the words, that God revealed in the Torah pertaining to the descriptions of Muhammad (s), from their contexts, those [contexts] in which they were placed, and they say, to the Prophet (s), when he commands them something, ‘We have heard, your words, and we disobey, your command; and hear as one who does not hear’ (wa’sma‘ ghayr musma‘in is a circumstantial qualifier, functioning as an invocation, in other words, ‘And may you not hear!’) and, they say to him, ‘Mind us’ (rā‘inā), [a term] with which it had been forbidden to address him, being a curse word in their language; twisting, distorting, with their tongues and slandering, defaming, religion, Islam. If they had said, ‘We have heard and obey’, instead of ‘And we disobey’, and, only, ‘Hear’, and ‘Consider us,’ (unzur ilaynā) instead of rā‘inā, it would have been better for them, than what they said, and more upright, more just than that, but God has cursed them, removing them from His mercy, for their unbelief, so they believe not except a few, among them, such as ‘Abd Allāh b. Salām and his companions.

O you who have been given the Scripture, believe in what We have revealed, of the Qur’ān, confirming what is with you, of the Torah, before We obliterate faces, erasing the eyes, noses and eyebrows in them, and turn them inside out, and make them like the napes of the neck, a flat plate, or curse them, by transforming them into apes, as We cursed, [as] We transformed, those of the Sabbath, among them, and God’s command, His decree, is done: after this was revealed, ‘Abd Allāh b. Salām converted to Islam, and so it was said that this had been a conditional threat of punishment, so that when some of them converted to Islam, it [the threat] was lifted. It is also said that obliteration and transformation will take place before the rising of the Hour.

God forgives not that anything should be associated with Him. But He forgives other than, save, that, of sins, to whomever He wills, forgiveness for, by admitting him into Paradise without punishment. And whomever He wills of the believers He punishes for their sins, and then admits them into Paradise. Whoever associates anything with God, then he has indeed invented a tremendous, a great, sin.

Have you not seen those who praise themselves for purity? namely, the Jews, when they say, ‘We are God’s children and His beloved’, in other words, it is not a matter of their purifying themselves. Nay, God purifies whom He will, through faith, and they shall not be wronged, they shall not be diminished of their deeds, a single date-thread, as much as the peel on a date-stone.

Consider, in amazement, how they invent falsehood against God, in that way, and that suffices for a clear, an evident, sin.

The following was revealed regarding Ka‘b b. al-Ashraf and other such scholars from among the Jews, when they came to Mecca and saw those killed at Badr, and began to incite the idolaters to avenge them [their dead] by waging war against the Prophet (s): Have you not seen those who were given a share of the Book, how they believe in al-Jibt and al-Tāghūt, two idols belonging to Quraysh, and say to the disbelievers, to Abū Sufyān and his companions, when they [the latter] said to them: ‘Are we, who are the guardians of the House, who give drink to the pilgrim, offer hospitality to the guest, set free the captive, and do such and such … not more rightly guided than Muhammad, he who has contravened the religion of his forefathers, severed the ties of kinship, and abandoned the Sanctuary?’, ‘These, in other words, you, are more rightly guided, upon a more upright way, than the believers’?

Those are the ones whom God has cursed; and he whom God has cursed, you will never find for him any helper, anyone to protect him from His chastisement.

Or have they a share in the Kingdom?, that is to say, they have no share in it whatever, and even if they did, then they would not give the people a single date-spot, that is, [not even] something as worthless as the tiny spot on the back of a date-pit, because of the extent of their niggardliness.

Or, nay, are they jealous of people, namely, of the Prophet (s), for the bounty that God has bestowed upon them, in the way of prophethood and abundance of women? In other words, they wish that he be deprived of such things, saying, ‘If he were truly a prophet, he would not be concerned with women’. For We gave the House of Abraham, his forefather, the likes of Moses, David and Solomon, the Book and wisdom, and prophethood, and We gave them a mighty kingdom: David had ninety–nine women, and Solomon had a thousand, free women and slavegirls.

And there are some of them who believe in him, in Muhammad (s), and some of them who bar from him, [who] reject [him] and do not believe. Hell suffices for a blaze, as a chastisement for those who do not believe.

Surely those who disbelieve in Our signs — We shall expose them, We shall admit them, to a Fire, wherein they shall burn; as often as their skins are consumed, burnt, We shall replace them with other skins, restoring them to their initial unburnt state, that they may taste the chastisement, that they may suffer its severity. Surely God is ever Mighty, nothing being beyond His power, Wise, in His creation.

And those that believe, and perform righteous deeds, We shall admit them to Gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide: they shall have therein spouses purified, of menstruation and every impurity, and We shall admit them to plenteous shade, that is everlasting [shade], never replaced by any sun, and this is the shade of Paradise.

Verily, God commands you to restore trusts, that is, the rights entrusted [to you by others], back to their owners: this was revealed when ‘Alī, may God be pleased with him, took the key of the Ka‘ba from its keeper, ‘Uthmān b. Talha al-Hajabī, by force, upon the arrival of the Prophet (s) in Mecca in the year of the Conquest, after he [‘Uthmān] had tried to prevent him [‘Alī from taking it] saying, ‘If I had known that he was the Messenger of God, I would not have prevented him’. The Messenger of God (s) then ordered him [‘Alī] to give it back to him [‘Uthmān] saying to him, ‘Here you are, [it is yours] now and always’. He [‘Uthmān] was amazed by this, whereupon ‘Alī recited to him this verse, and he accepted Islam. Upon his death, he [‘Uthmān] gave it [the key] to his brother, Shayba, and thus it remained in [the keep of] his descendants. Although the verse was revealed regarding a specific occasion, it holds true in general on account of the plural person [to which it is addressed]. And when you judge between people, He commands, that you judge with justice. Excellent is (ni‘immā, the mīm of ni‘ima has been assimilated with the indefinite particle mā, which is the object described, in other words, na‘ima shay’an, ‘an excellent thing [is]’) the admonition God gives you, to restore a trust and to judge with justice. God is ever Hearer, of what is said, Seer, of what is done.

O you who believe, obey God, and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you, that is, rulers, when they command you to obey God and His Messenger. If you should quarrel, disagree, about anything, refer it to God, that is, to His Book, and the Messenger, while he lives, and thereafter [refer] to his Sunna: in other words examine these [disputes] with reference to these two [sources], if you believe in God and the Last Day; that, reference to the two [sources], is better, for you than quarrelling or [adhering to] personal opinions, and more excellent in interpretation, in the end.

The following verse was revealed when a Jew and a hypocrite fell into a dispute. The hypocrite called on Ka‘b b. al-Ashraf, to arbitrate between them, while the Jew called on the Prophet (s). When they came to him, the Prophet ruled in favour of the Jew. But the hypocrite was not satisfied, and so they went before ‘Umar. The Jew told him what had happened, whereupon he [‘Umar] turned to the hypocrite and asked him, ‘Is this true?’, and when he replied, ‘Yes’, he [‘Umar] killed him. Have you not seen those who claim that they believe in what has been revealed to you, and what was revealed before you, desiring to take their disputes to a false deity (tāghūt), one excessive in tempting [others] to falsehood (tughyān), namely, Ka‘b b. al-Ashraf, when they have been commanded to renounce him?, and not to associate with him. But Satan desires to mislead them, far astray, from the truth.

And when it is said to them, ‘Come to what God has revealed, as regards rulings in the Qur’ān, and the Messenger’, that he may judge between you, you see the hypocrites turn away from you vehemently, to others.

How would it be, [what] would they do, when an affliction, a punishment, befalls them for what their own hands have sent before them, of unbelief and acts of disobedience, that is to say, would they then be able to turn away and escape it? No! They then come to you (thumma jā’ūka, a supplement to yasuddūn, ‘they turn away’ [of the previous verse]), swearing by God that, in turning to other than you for arbitration, ‘We sought only virtue, settlement, and harmony’, reconciliation between the disputing parties by [any] approximate judgement without regard for the painful truth.

Those — God knows what is in their hearts, in the way of hypocrisy and the mendacity of their excuses; so turn away from them, with forgiveness, and admonish them, make them fear God, and say to them regarding, the issue of, their souls penetrating words, affecting them, in other words, reprimand them so that they repent of their unbelief.

We never sent any Messenger, but that he should be obeyed, in what he commands and judges, by the leave, by the command, of God, and not that he should be disobeyed or opposed. If, when they had wronged themselves, by seeking the judgement of the false idol, they had come to you, repentant, and asked forgiveness from God, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them (there is a shift from the second [to the third] person in this address, in deference to his [the Prophet’s (s)] status); they would have found God Relenting, to them, Merciful, to them.

But no, (fa-lā, the lā is extra) by your Lord! They will not believe until they make you judge over what has broken out, has become mixed up, between them and find in themselves no inhibition, [no] constraint or doubt, regarding what you decide, but submit, [but] comply with your ruling, in full submission, without objection.

And had We prescribed for them: (the particle an, ‘that’, is explicative) ‘Slay yourselves’ or ‘Leave your habitations’, as We did for the Children of Israel, they would not have done it, that is, what has been prescribed for them, save a few (read nominative qalīlun, as a substitution; or read accusative qalīlan, as an exceptive clause) of them; yet if they had done what they were admonished to do, of obedience to the Messenger (s), it would have been better for them, and stronger in establishing, [a stronger] confirmation of their faith.

And then, that is, had they confirmed themselves, We would have surely given them from Us a great wage, that is, Paradise.

And We would have guided them to a straight path. Some Companions said to the Prophet (s): ‘How will we be able to see you in Paradise, when you will be in the highest stations and we will be lower than you?’, and so the following was revealed:

Whoever obeys God and the Messenger, in what he commands, they are with those whom God has blessed of the prophets and the truthful, that is, the most excellent of the Prophet’s Companions, because of the fullness of their truthfulness and their affirmation of the truth; and the martyrs, those slain in the path of God; and the righteous, [all those] other than the ones mentioned. What fine companions they are!, in Paradise, since in it one will enjoy seeing them, visiting them and being in their presence, even though they will be in the highest stations in relation to others.

That, namely, their being with those mentioned (dhālika, ‘that’, is the subject, the predicate of which is [the following]) is bounty from God, with which He has favoured them, and not because they have earned it through their obedience. God suffices as Knower, of the reward of the Hereafter, in other words, trust in what He has told you: None can tell you like One Who is aware [Q. 35:14].

O you who believe, take your precautions, against your enemy, that is, be wary of him and be vigilant against him; then move forward, prepare to fight him, in companies, in separate groups, one raiding party followed by the next; or move forward all together, in one assembly.

Verily, there are some of you who tarry, who indeed hesitate to join the fighting, such as ‘Abd Allāh b. Ubayy, the hypocrite, and his companions — counting him [the one who tarries] as one of them [the Muslims] is from the perspective of outward appearances — (the lām in the verb [la-yubatti’anna, ‘verily … who tarry’] is for oaths); then, if an affliction befalls you, such as slaughter or defeat, he says, ‘God has been gracious to me, for I was not a witness with them’, present [at the fighting], lest I should be hurt.

But if (wa-la-in, the lām is for oaths) a bounty from God befalls you, such as a conquest or booty, he will surely cry, in regret, as if (ka’an is softened, its subject having been omitted, in other words [it should be] ka’annahu) there had never been (read lam yakun, or lam takun) any affection, any acquaintance or friendship, between you and him: this [statement] refers back to the words [in the previous verse] ‘God has been gracious to me’, and comes as a parenthesis between the statement ‘that he will cry’ and the very words he cries, which are: ‘Oh (yā, is for exclamation), would that I had been with them, so that I might have won a great triumph!’, that is, [that] I might have taken a good share of the booty.

God, exalted be He, says: So let them fight in the way of God, to elevate His religion, those who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter; and whoever fights in the way of God and is slain, dies a martyr, or conquers, overcomes his enemy, We shall give him a great wage, a plentiful reward.

What is wrong with you, that you do not fight: this is an interrogative of rebuke, in other words, there is nothing to prevent you from fighting, in the way of God, and for, the deliverance of, the oppressed men, women, and children, whom the disbelievers persecuted and prevented from emigrating. Ibn ‘Abbās, may God be pleased with him and his father, said, ‘My mother and I were among them’; who say, supplicating, ‘O, our Lord, bring us forth from this town, Mecca, whose people are evildoers, through unbelief, and appoint for us a protector from You, to take charge of our affair, and appoint for us from You a helper’, to defend us against them. God responded to their supplication and facilitated escape for some of them, while others remained behind until Mecca was conquered — in charge of them the Prophet (s) placed ‘Attāb b. Asīd, who proceeded to seek justice for the wronged from those that had wronged them.

Those who believe fight in the way of God, and those who disbelieve fight in the way of a false deity, Satan. Fight therefore against the friends of Satan, the supporters of his religion and you will defeat them with the strength you draw from God; surely the plotting of Satan, against believers, is ever feeble, of no substance, and cannot stand up to God’s plotting against the disbelievers.

Have you not seen those to whom it was said, ‘Restrain your hands, from fighting the disbelievers when they desired it at Mecca, because of the harm the disbelievers had inflicted upon them — and these were a group from among the Companions — and establish the prayer, and pay the alms’? Then, as soon as fighting was prescribed, was made obligatory, for them, lo, a party of them fear people, the disbelievers, that is, [they fear] punishment at their hands through death, as they would fear, the punishment of, God, or with more fear, than their fear of Him (ashadda, ‘more’, is in the accusative because it is a circumstantial qualifier; the response to the lammā, ‘as soon as’, is indicated by idhā, ‘lo’, and what follows), in other words, they are taken aback by fear, and they said, frightened of death, ‘Our Lord, why have You prescribed fighting for us? Why not (lawlā is [to be understood as] hallā) defer us to a near term?’ Say, to them: ‘The enjoyment of this world, that which is enjoyed therein, or enjoying it [the world], is trifling, it will end up by perishing; and the Hereafter, Paradise, is better for him who fears God’s punishment by avoiding disobedience to Him; and you shall not be wronged (lā tuzlamūna, may also be read lā yuzlamūna, ‘they shall not be wronged’) you shall not be diminished of your deeds, a single date-thread, as much as the peel on a date-stone, so struggle [in the way of God].

Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, though you should be in raised-up, lofty, towers’, forts, so do not shrink from fighting for fear of death. And if a good thing, such as fertility and abundance, befalls them, the Jews, they say, ‘This is from God’; but if an evil thing, such as drought or misfortune, befalls them, as it did with them when the Prophet (s) arrived in Medina, they say, ‘This is from you’, O Muhammad (s), that is, from the bad luck [you bring]. Say, to them: ‘Everything, good and evil, is from God.’ What is wrong with this people that they do not understand, that is, they do not come close to comprehending, any words, delivered to them (the mā, ‘what’ [of mā li-hā’ūlā’, ‘what is wrong with these’] is an interrogative intended to provoke amazement at their extreme ignorance; to state that one cannot even come close to doing something is [rhetorically] more intense than saying that he cannot do it).

Whatever good (hasana means khayr) befalls you, O man, it is from God, it has come to you from His bounty; whatever evil, misfortune, befalls you is from yourself, it has come to you as a necessary consequence of sins you have committed. We have sent you, O Muhammad (s), to people as a messenger (rasūlan, is a circumstantial qualifier for emphasis), and God suffices as Witness, of your Mission.

Whoever obeys the Messenger, verily obeys God; and whoever turns his back, [whoever] avoids obedience to you, do not be concerned with them: We have not sent you as a watcher over them, to keep watch over their deeds, but as a warner. Their affair is Ours [to deal with] and We will requite them. This [statement] was before the command to fight [them was revealed].

They say, that is, the hypocrites [say] when they come to you, ‘Our affair is [all about] Obedience, to you’; but when they sally forth, [when] they depart, from you, a party of them harbour (the [final] tā’ [of the feminine-ending in bayyatat, ‘harbour’] can either be elided with the following tā’ [of tā’ifa, ‘a party’] or simply omitted) they entertain secretly [feelings], other than what they say, to you in your presence in the way of [their] obedience, in other words, [they hide] disobedience to you. God writes down, He commands that it be written, what they harbour, in their scrolls [of deeds], so that they will be requited for it. So turn away from them, in forgiveness, rely on God, put your trust in Him, for He will suffice you; and God suffices as a Guardian, to Whom matters are entrusted.

What, do they not ponder, do they [not] contemplate, the Qur’ān?, and the marvellous truths contained in it. If it had been from other than God surely they would have found therein much inconsistency, [much] contradiction in meaning and irregularity in arrangement.

And when there comes to them an issue, [news] concerning the raiding parties sent by the Prophet (s) and what has happened to them, be it of security, through victory, or of fear, through defeat, they broadcast it, they make it widely-known: this was revealed regarding a group from among the hypocrites, or from among the feeble believers, who used to do this, and so the hearts of the believers would lose courage and the Prophet (s) would become distressed. If they had referred it, the news, to the Messenger and to those in authority among them, that is, the judicious elders among the Companions, in other words, if they had kept quiet about it until they were fully informed; those among them who are able to think it out, [those who] follow it up and seek knowledge of it, the ones who broadcast it, would have known it, and whether it is a matter that ought be broadcast or not, from them, from the Prophet (s) and those of authority. And but for the bounty of God to you, through Islam, and His mercy, to you through the Qur’ān, you would surely have followed Satan, in the abominations to which he commands you, except a few [of you].

So fight, O Muhammad (s), in the way of God; you are charged only with yourself, so do not be concerned with their failing to join you, the meaning being: fight, even if you are on your own, for you have been promised victory. And urge on the believers, incite them to fight and make them desire it; maybe God will restrain the might, the war, of the disbelievers; God is mightier, than them, and more severe in castigation, in punishment, than them. And so the Messenger of God (s) said: ‘By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, I shall sally forth [to fight], even if [I go] alone’. Thereupon, he sallied forth with seventy cavalrymen to the first [battle at] Badr, where God restrained the might of the disbelievers by casting terror into their hearts and preventing Abū Sufyān from sallying forth, as has already been mentioned in [sūrat] Āl ‘Imrān [Q. 3:151].

Whoever intercedes, between people, with a good intercession, one in accordance with the Law, shall receive a share of, the reward for, it, because of it; and whoever intercedes with an evil intercession, one in contravention of it [the Law], shall receive the like, the share of the sin, from it, because of it. God conserves, He has power over, all things, and so requites every person according to his deeds.

And when you are greeted with a greeting, as when it is said to you, ‘Peace be upon you’, greet, the one that greeted you, with better than it, by responding to him with, ‘Peace be upon you, and God’s mercy and blessings’, or return it, by saying back to him what he said; in other words, it is a duty to greet in one of these two ways, the former being the preferred one. Surely God keeps count of, He holds [you] accountable for, all things, and requites accordingly, including things such as returning a greeting. The Sunna specifies that one should not return the greeting of an disbeliever, an innovator, a wicked person, and of the one that greets a person who is in the act of relieving himself, or one in the bath, or one eating — indeed it is actually disapproved with the exception of the last. To the disbeliever [who says ‘peace be upon you’] one should simply say, ‘And upon you’.

God — there is no god except Him, and by God, He will surely gather you, from your graves, to, on, the Day of Resurrection whereof there is no doubt, no uncertainty. And who is truer in statement, in speech, than God?, that is, no one is.

When a group retreated from Uhud, people were at variance over their status. Some said, ‘Let us slay them’, while others said, ‘No!’ So the following was revealed: What is wrong with you, what is the matter with you, that you have become two parties, two groups, regarding the hypocrites, when God has overthrown them, He has turned them back [to disbelief], for what they earned?, in the way of disbelief and acts of disobedience. What, do you desire to guide him whom God has sent astray?, that is, to count them among the guided (the interrogative in both places is for disapproval). And he whom God sends astray, you will never find for him a way, a path to guidance.

They long, they wish, that you should disbelieve as they disbelieve, so then you, and they, would be equal, in unbelief; therefore do not take friends from among them, associating with them, even if they should [outwardly] manifest belief, until they emigrate in the way of God, a proper emigration that would confirm their belief; then, if they turn away, and remain upon their ways, take them, as captives, and slay them wherever you find them; and do not take any of them as a patron, to associate with, or as a helper, to assist you against your enemy.

Except those who attach themselves to, [who] seek refuge with, a people between whom and you there is a covenant, a pledge of security for them and for whoever attaches himself to them, in the manner of the Prophet’s (s) covenant with Hilāl b. ‘Uwaymir al-Aslamī; or, those who, come to you with their breasts constricted, dejected, about the prospect of fighting you, [being] on the side of their people, or fighting their people, siding with you, in other words, [those who come to you] refraining from fighting either you or them, then do not interfere with them, neither taking them as captives nor slaying them: this statement and what follows was abrogated by the ‘sword’ verse. Had God willed, to give them sway over you, He would have given them sway over you, by strengthening their hearts, so that assuredly they would have fought you: but God did not will it and so He cast terror into their hearts. And so if they stay away from you and do not fight you, and offer you peace, reconciliation, that is, [if] they submit, then God does not allow you any way against them, [He does not allow you] a means to take them captive or to slay them.

You will find others desiring to have security from you, by manifesting belief before you, and security from their own people, through unbelief, when they return to them, and these were [the tribes of] Asad and Ghatafān; yet whenever they are returned to sedition, [whenever] they are summoned to idolatry, they are overwhelmed by it, falling into it in the worst of ways. So, if they do not stay away from you, by refraining from fighting you, and, do not, offer you peace, and, do not, restrain their hands, from you, then take them, as captives, and slay them wherever you come upon them, [wherever] you find them; against them We have given you clear warrant, a clear and manifest proof for you to slay them and capture them, on account of their treachery.

It is not for a believer to slay a believer, in other words, no such slaying should result at his hands, except by mistake, killing him by mistake, unintentionally. He who slays a believer by mistake, when he meant to strike some other thing, as in the case of hunting or [shooting at] trees, but then happens to strike him with what in most cases would not kill, then let him set free, let him emancipate, a believing slave (raqaba denotes nasama, ‘a person’), an obligation on him, and blood-money is to be submitted, to be paid, to his family, that is, the slain person’s inheritors, unless they remit it as a charity, to him by waiving [their claim to] it. In the Sunna this [blood-money] is explained as being equivalent to one hundred camels: twenty pregnant, twenty female sucklings, twenty male sucklings, twenty mature ones and twenty young ones [not more than five years old]; and [the Sunna stipulates] that it is incumbent upon the killer’s clan, namely, his paternal relations [and not other relatives]. They share this [burden of the blood-money] over three years; the rich among them pays half a dinar, while the one of moderate means [pays] a quarter of a dinar each year; if they still cannot meet this, then it can be taken from the treasury, and if this is not possible, then from the killer himself. If he, the slain, belongs to a people at enmity, at war, with you and is a believer, then the setting free of a believing slave, is incumbent upon the slayer, as a redemption, but no bloodmoney is to be paid to his family, since they are at war [with you]. If he, the slain, belongs to a people between whom and you there is a covenant, a treaty, as is the case with the Protected People (ahl al-dhimma), then the blood-money, for him, must be paid to his family, and it constitutes a third of the blood-money for a believer, if the slain be a Jew or a Christian, and two thirds of a tenth of it, if he be a Magian; and the setting free of a believing slave, is incumbent upon the slayer. But if he has not the wherewithal, for [setting free] a slave, failing to find one, or the means to obtain one, then the fasting of two successive months, is incumbent upon him as a redemption: here God does not mention the transition to [an alternative to fasting which is] giving food [to the needy], as in the case of [repudiating one’s wife by] zihār, something which al-Shāfi‘ī advocates in the more correct of two opinions of his; a relenting from God (tawbatan, ‘relenting’, is the verbal noun, and is in the accusative because of the implied verb). And God is ever Knowing, of His creation, Wise, in what He has ordained for them.