The heir of the murdered person who has the right of...

The heir of the murdered person who has the right of retaliation) has extraordinarily been described here as the "brother" of the murderer; this expression has been used to awaken the feeling of love and kindness in the heart of the aggrieved party, and gives a hint to him that remission and forgiveness is highly preferable in the eyes of Allah.

QUR'AN: then (the demand for the blood wit) should be made according to the usage, and payment should be made to him in a good manner: Its literal translation is: then following according to usage, and payment to him in a good manner. Both phrase are subjects with their predicates implied.

Thus literally it would mean: then it is obligatory on the aggrieved "brother" to follow that remission with demand for the blood-money according to usage; and it is obligatory on the murderer to pay it to the aggrieved brother, that is, heir of the slain, in a good manner without any annoying delay. QUR'AN: this is alleviation from your Lord and a mercy: The permission to commute the retaliation into blood-money is alleviation from your Lord, and therefore, once effected, it cannot be changed.

The heir of the slain person cannot revert to retaliation after granting remission. If he transgresses the limit and retaliates after remission, then he shall have a painful chastisement. QUR'AN: And there is life for you in the retaliation, 0 men of understanding, that you guard yourselves (against evil): This verse points to the philosophy of this legislation.

It aims at removing a possible misunderstanding that - because Allah has allowed remission and blood-money, and also because remission expands the circle of mercy and affection - remission is more in con­formity with public weal and social good. The verse shows that, although remission is alleviation based on mercy, common good and society's peace depend on the retaliation. The only guarantee of life is the law of retaliation, and not remission, blood-money, or any other thing.

Man has to accept this fact, if he has understanding. " that you may guard yourselves" that is, from murder. It gives the basic of the law of retaliation. The scholars have said that the verse, "and there is life for you in the retaliation," is one of the most eloquent in its clarity, and the most refined in rhetoric, in addition to its having many other fine literary points, like brevity - it has so few words and such a small number of total letters - fluency of style and clarity of composition.