Surah Al-Baqarah 2:178

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِصَاصُ فِي الْقَتْلَى ۖ الْحُرُّ بِالْحُرِّ وَالْعَبْدُ بِالْعَبْدِ وَالْأُنثَىٰ بِالْأُنثَىٰ ۚ فَمَنْ عُفِيَ لَهُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ شَيْءٌ فَاتِّبَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَأَدَاءٌ إِلَيْهِ بِإِحْسَانٍ ۗ ذَ‌ٰلِكَ تَخْفِيفٌ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ ۗ فَمَنِ اعْتَدَىٰ بَعْدَ ذَ‌ٰلِكَ فَلَهُ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

2:178 This verse contains the basic principle of Islamic civil law, which necessitates the awarding of proportionate punishment to all offenders without any distinction of race, trait, or origin. The duty of punishing the culprit does not rest on the family of the victim but, as the plural form ‘alaikum عَلَيْكُمُ indicates “on you”, meaning the governing authority. Individuals cannot take the law into their own hands. The words used in the verse are of a general nature and apply to all offenders. The punishment must be carried out, unless pardoned by the relatives of the victim or the pardon is brought with the sanction of the competent authorities. The heirs of the victim are given the option to forgive of their own free will, without any pressure, and under circumstances that are calculated to lead to the improvement and betterment of social conditions. This verse clearly implies that the death penalty is not a necessity.

The Jewish law of perfect retaliation is greatly modified in the Holy Qur’ân (cf. 5:45). It is obvious that life for a life would not correspond in every case to the requirements for equity, peace and justice in a society. There are differences between premeditated murder, and murder under extreme provocation, culpable homicide, manslaughter, reckless endangerment, accidental killing and so forth. This has been made clear for instance in 4:92, where legal retribution for unintentional killing is dealt with. Whatever the status of the guilty person, he is to be punished in a manner both appropriate and proportionate to the crime. The words “the freeman for the freeman “does not mean that a freeman should not be punished for the murder of a slave, or that a woman should not be put to death for killing a member of the opposite sex. This verse describes a particular case. If a free man is the murderer, he himself is to be punished, and if a woman murders a man, then she is to be put to trial. These particular cases are described in order to abolish certain pagan customs; according to these, when determining punishment, the sex and the social status of the murderer and the murdered person are taken into consideration. The pagans used to insist—in certain cases where the person to be punished was of influential descent—upon the execution of someone other than the convicted person. Thus the Holy Qur’ân eliminated these excesses that related to the pre-Islamic customs of retaliation. The companions of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) also agreed that a Muslim could be put to death for the murdering of a non-belligerent disbeliever (Jarîr). This law is based on the principle that if one life is lost, society should not waste other lives in retribution; at most, let the law take a maximum of one life under strictly prescribed conditions and with the cessation of any further private vengeance or tribal retaliation. The decision of the authority is to be respected (cf. 4:59)

The word Qisâsقِصَاصُ -“equitable retaliation “is almost synonymous with musawât مساوات - making a thing equal to another thing. Here it is making the punishment equal or appropriate to the crime, a meaning rendered in the translation as equitable retaliation. Fil Qatlâ فئ قتلئ refers to matters of killing in general. The words “but as for him who has been granted any remission by his brother” فَمَنْ عُفِيَ لَهُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ شَيْءٌ indicate that the infliction of capital punishment is not obligatory. It is important to note that where the Holy Qur’ân speaks of pardon and remission, it uses the word brother instead of referring directly to the heirs of the murdered person or to the authorities concerned. This is to invoke brotherly feelings and sentiments so that a more lenient view can be taken of the offence.