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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Faith and Reason Question 31: Difference in blood money between man and a woman in Islamic Jurisprudence Question: Why is the blood money of a woman half of that of a man? All of the laws of Islam are based upon certain benefits. Every law has wisdom. If something has been prohibited in Islam it is because it is harmful. If something has been made obligatory it is because it has a benefit.

Of course perhaps it is not possible for us to find out all of the benefits and harms of all the laws and prohibitions, but if we rely on a sound intelligence and base ourselves on realities and of course on the sayings of the Infallibles (ع) we can understand some of these things.

In regards to the blood money of a woman being half of that of a man there is definitely some wisdom behind such a law to which we will briefly refer: If Islam was purely a materialistic school of thought and if the foundations of its laws were monetary and economic matters and, given this, women’s blood money was half of that of men’s, then this objection would be proper that why is the value of women half of that of men and why have they valued women at half the price of men.

But these are not the foundations that are used and in Islam the value of human beings is according to their Spirit and their spiritual qualities. In Islam that which is valuable is piety. Human beings can be like Musa (ع) who spoke with Allah (awj) or be like Maryam (ع) who used to receive heavenly revelations. In regards to traversing the path of felicity and obtaining spiritual positions, men and women are equal.

There is no difference between them in this regard in principle, and in fact, the matter depends upon their personal ambition and effort. But blood money is an economic matter. Blood money is a matter related to the physical aspect of human beings, therefore in this regard there is no difference between the blood money of a prominent member of the Islamic society and an average labourer.

Generally speaking we can say that human beings, whether they be men or women, have three dimensions to their existence: a. The human or divine dimension: In this dimension there is no difference between men and women. The path to human and divine perfection is open to both of them and both of them can progress in these regards as far as they want.