Blood money (term)

''For other uses, see Blood money (disambiguation)

Blood money is money paid by a killer as compensation to the next of kin of a victim of accidental death.

The idea of paying money in order to terminate a blood feud caused by accidental death (vendetta) has found occasional application in many societies in centuries past; however, with the exception of the Islamic tradition detailed below, the concept has been universally reprobated.

Islamic and Arab tradition

In Islamic and Arab traditions, blood money is the money paid by the killer or his family or clan to the family or the clan of the victim (compare weregild and główczyzna). It is unlawful for a believer to kill a believer except if it happens by accident. And he who kills a believer accidentally must free one Muslim slave and pay Diyat to the heirs of the victim except if they forgive him. The tradition finds repeated endorsement in Islamic tradition; several instances are recorded in the Hadith, which are the acts of the Prophet Mohammad.

Legally prescribed rates

The Blood-Money tradition has found its way into legislation in several Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan. Some of these countries also define, by lawful legislation, a hierarchy of rates for the lives of people; religious affiliation and gender are usually the main modulating factors for these Blood Money rates. Two examples are presented below.

Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, when a person has been killed or caused to die by another, the prescribed blood money rates are as follows:

100,000 riyals if the victim is a Muslim man
50,000 riyals if a Muslim woman
50,000 riyals if a Christian man
25,000 riyals if a Christian woman
6,666 riyals if a Hindu man
3,333 riyals if a Hindu woman.

Blood money is to be paid not only for murder, but also in case of unnatural death, interpreted to mean death in a fire, industrial or road accident, for instance.

Iran

In Iran, a further refinement on the hierarchy of rates has been devised: variations are also based on the month of the Islamic calendar that the crime is committed in. The Iraninan Judiciary system announces a table of the prescribed amounts each year. During the four haraam months, when wars and killings were traditionally discouraged in the Arabian peninsula and later in the larger Islamic world, the blood money rates stand doubled. The rates for female victims is half that for male victims.

As in Saudi Arabia, the rates for bloody crimes committed against Iranian non-muslims used to be half the rate prescribed for muslim victims, but this was changed by "equitable", progressive-minded legislation in early 2004. This legislation was initially rejected by the Guardian Council but was later approved by the Expediency Discernment Council.

External links

Blutgeld

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Islamic and Arab tradition

Legally prescribed rates

Saudi Arabia

Iran

See also

External links