Al-Maaida (The Table)

45. "And We prescribed for them in it that: a life is for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, and for wounds (there shall be) retaliation. But whoever remits it, it shall be an expiation (of his sins) for him; and whoever does not judge by what Allah has sent down, those are they that are the unjust."

Retaliation and Remittal

This verse explains another part of the ordinances concerning crimes and the bounds of Allah in the Torah. It denotes that Allah has assigned the law of retaliation in the Torah so that if a person intentionally murders an innocent one, the owners of blood can retaliate instead and execute the murderer.

"And We prescribed for them in it that: a life is for a life....."

If a person injures another one's eye and destroys it, the injured can also destroy the person's eye:

"...an eye or an eye ..."

He is also permitted to cut his nose instead of his own nose:

"....a nose or a nose ..."

Instead of cutting an ear, the one can cut one ear of his:

"...an ear or an ear ..."

And, if a person breaks the tooth of another person, he can break the criminal's tooth, too. It says:

"…a tooth for a tooth…"

In general, every person who injures or wounds another person, it can be retaliated:

"…and for wounds (there shall be) retaliation. ..."

Therefore, the ordinance of retaliation should be done justly and without considering any difference from the point of race, social level, tribe, and personality.

But, in order that nobody imagines that Allah has decreed the law of retaliation as a compulsory rigid duty, immediately next to this ordinance, it adds:

"….But whoever remits it, it shall be an expiation (of his sins) for him…"

That is, as much as he has remitted in that regard, Allah will remit out of his sins for him.

And, at the end of the verse, it says:

".... and whoever does not judge by what Allah has sent down, those are they that are the unjust."

What an unjust is greater than that we be entangled with some false affections and feelings, and dispense with the murderer absolutely by the excuse that a blood should not be washed out by a blood!