Qiṣāṣ

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Qiṣāṣ (Arab., ‘retaliation’). The principle, in Islam, of limited retaliation for harm inflicted. In contrast to the blood-feuds of pre-Islamic Arabia (often lasting for years and generations), the Qurʾān commends a substitutionary compensation (5. 45)—though where victim and perpetrator are of equal status, talion is admitted in strict relationship to the perpetrator alone. Where a life has been taken, the life of the killer may be taken (2. 179), but no further revenge-killing is allowed: in effect, retribution replaced revenge.