qisas

Qisas is a category of Islamic criminal law under which the penalty for intentional killing or wounding is equivalent retaliation, based on Quranic verses. It is treated as a private right of the victim or his heirs rather than a right of God (hadd). The heirs may insist on retaliation, accept blood money (diyat) instead, or pardon the offender.

Qisas does not apply in India. Muslim criminal law, administered in British India in the eighteenth century, was progressively displaced and ended with the Indian Penal Code of 1860, and Indian criminal law today is territorial and secular. The concept is studied in jurisprudence and comparative law to illustrate the private and compensatory side of punishment.

Example

Under classical Islamic law, the heirs could forgo qisas and accept diyat from the killer.

See also

diyat · hadd · tazir · lex talionis

Read more in the study notes

• The right of private defence (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
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