Context & Objective: The determination of blood money (diyah) for the paralysis (shallal) of body parts is a fundamental issue in Islamic jurisprudence and the Iranian Islamic Penal Code of 2013. Article 564 of this code stipulates that paralyzing any organ with a fixed diyah requires the payment of two-thirds of its full value. This article aims to critically analyze the jurisprudential foundations of this rule and evaluate whether a uniform two-thirds rule is supported by primary religious sources or if a more categorized approach is necessary. The discussion explores the linguistic and technical definitions of paralysis—defined as the loss of an organ's primary function due to injury—and investigates the divergence between the prominent Imami view and alternative Sunni or contemporary Shiite perspectives. Method & Approach: The research adopts a doctrinal approach based on classical and contemporary jurisprudential texts. It evaluates the linguistic roots of paralysis to establish its legal scope as the total loss of an organ's primary benefit. The methodology involves a comparative analysis of primary religious evidence including the Sahih of Fudayl ibn Yasar and the narrations of Yunus and Zarif. Furthermore, the study scrutinizes the validity of the alleged consensus (ijma) and the principle of Tanqih al-Manat to determine if the rules governing hands and feet can be generalized to all other bodily members. Findings: The findings indicate that the two-thirds rule in Article 564 is largely derived from specific narrations regarding the fingers but has been inappropriately extended to all organs. While the prominent view supports fractional compensation religious evidence suggests that paralysis resulting in the total loss of an organ's primary function—such as in the eyes ears or tongue—warrants a full diyah. The analysis reveals that the current legislative framework creates ambiguity and lacks proportionality. Specifically, the study finds that for many bodily members where no specific fixed diyah is mandated the law should rely on Arsh which is an unfixed compensatory amount determined by expert opinion and forensic medical assessment rather than a fixed legislative fraction. Conclusion: The study concludes that the generalized application of the two-thirds rule in Article 564 of the Islamic Penal Code is jurisprudentially inconsistent and requires reform. The author proposes a quadruple categorization for legal clarity: two-thirds diyah for the paralysis of fingers; full diyah for the paralysis of hands and feet based on specialized narrations; full diyah for major sensory and functional organs where paralysis equals total loss of utility; and Arsh (the non-fixed blood money determined by experts) for all other members not explicitly covered by religious texts. Such amendments would ensure the law aligns with the principles of justice and the detailed requirements of Islamic legal tradition.
Amili (Shahid-e Sani), Zain al-Din ibn Ali (1422 AH/2001). Ḥāšiyat al-Muḵtaṣar al-nāfiʿ. Qom: Islamic Propagation Office [in Arabic].
Amili, Zain al-Din ibn Ali (1410 AH/1989). al-Rawḍat al-bahīyah fī šarḥ al-Lumʿat al-Damashqīyah (Sayyid Mohammad Kalantar, Annotator) (Vol. 10). Qom: Dawari Bookstore [in Arabic].
Ardabili, Ahmad ibn Mohammad (1403 AH/1982). Majmaʿ al-fāʾidah va al-burhān fī šarḥ Iršād al-aḏhān (Vol. 14). Qom: Islamic Publications Office of the Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].
Azhari, Mohammad ibn Ahmad (1421 AH/2000). Tahḏīb al-luġah (Vols. 7 & 11). Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi [in Arabic].
Fayyumi, Ahmad ibn Mohammad (1414 AH/1993). al-Miṣbāḥ al-munīr fī ġarīb al-Šarḥ al-kabīr lil-Rāfiʿī. Qom: Dar al-Hijrah Institute [in Arabic].
Fazel Lankarani, Mohammad (1418 AH/1997). Tafṣīl al-šarīʿah fī šarḥ Taḥrīr al-vasīlah: al-Diyāt. Qom: Jurisprudential Center of Pure Imams [in Arabic].
Firozabadi, Mohammad ibn Ya'qub (1415 AH/1994). al-Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ (Vol. 3). Beirut: Dar al-Kotob al-Ilmiyah [in Arabic].
Haeri Tabatabai, Sayyid Ali ibn Mohammad (1418 AH/1997). Riyāḍ al-masāʾil fī taḥqīq al-aḥkām bi-al-dalāʾil (Vol. 16). Qom: Aal al-Bayt Institute [in Arabic].
Haji Dehabadi, Ahmad (1391 SH/2012). Qavāʿid-e Feqh-e Jazāī [Rules of Criminal Jurisprudence]. Qom: Research Institute of Hawzah and University [in Persian].
Hilli, Hasan ibn Yousuf ibn Mutahhar (1413 AH/1992). Qavāʿid al-aḥkām fī maʿrifat al-ḥalāl va al-ḥarām (Vol. 3). Qom: Islamic Publications Office of the Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].
Hilli, Hasan ibn Yousuf ibn Mutahhar (1420 AH/1999). Taḥrīr al-aḥkām al-šarʿīyah ʿalā maḏhab al-Emāmīyah (Vol. 5). Qom: Imam Sadiq Institute [in Arabic].
Hilli, Mohammad ibn Mansour ibn Ahmad (1410 AH/1989). al-Sarāʾir al-ḥāvī li-taḥrīr al-fatāvā (Vol. 3). Qom: Islamic Publications Office of the Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].
Hosseini Amili, Sayyid Javad ibn Mohammad (1419 AH/1998). Miftāḥ al-karāmah fī šarḥ Qavāʿid al-ʿAllāmah (Old ed., Vol. 10). Qom: Islamic Publications Office of the Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].
Ibn al-Athir, Mubarak ibn Mohammad (1367 SH/1988). al-Nihāyah fī ġarīb al-ḥadīṯ va al-aṯar (Vol. 2). Qom: Ismāʿīlīyān Press [in Arabic].
Isfahani (Fazel Hindi), Mohammad ibn Hasan (1416 AH/1995). Kašf al-liṯām va al-ibhām ʿan Qavāʿid al-aḥkām (Vol. 11). Qom: Islamic Publications Office of the Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].
Jowhari, Esmail ibn Hammad (1410 AH/1989). al-Ṣiḥāḥ tāj al-luġah va ṣiḥāḥ al-ʿarabīyah (Vol. 5). Beirut: Dar al-Ilm lil-Malayin [in Arabic].
Kashi, Abu Amr Mohammad ibn Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (1404 AH/1983). Iḵtiyār maʿrifat al-rijāl (1st ed.). Mashhad: Mashhad University Press [in Arabic].
Khoei, Sayyid Abu al-Qasim (1413 AH/1992). Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīṯ va tafṣīl ṭabaqāt al-ruvāt (Vols. 17 & 18). Qom: [n.p.] [in Arabic].
Khoei, Sayyid Abu al-Qasim (1422 AH/2001). Mabānī takmilat al-Minhāj (Vols. 1 & 2). Qom: Al-Khoei Institute [in Arabic].
Khomeini, Sayyid Ruhollah (n.d.). Taḥrīr al-vasīlah (Vol. 2). Qom: Dar al-Ilm Publications [in Arabic].
Khwansari, Sayyid Ahmad ibn Yousuf (1405 AH/1984). Jāmiʿ al-madārik fī šarḥ al-Muḵtaṣar al-nāfiʿ (Vol. 6). Qom: Ismāʿīlīyān Institute [in Arabic].
Kulayni, Mohammad ibn Ya'qub ibn Ishaq (1429 AH/2008). al-Kāfī (1st ed.). Qom: Al-Tab' al-Islami [in Arabic].
Madani Kashani, Haj Aqa Reza (1408 AH/1987). Ketāb al-diyāt. Qom: Islamic Publications Office of the Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].
Makarem Shirazi, Naser (1427 AH/2006). al-Fatāvā al-jadīdah (Vol. 3). Qom: Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib School [in Arabic].
Morvarid, Ali Asghar (1417 AH/1996). al-Maṣādir al-feqhīyah (Vol. 29). Beirut: Dar al-Turath al-Islami [in Arabic].
Najafi, Mohammad Hasan (1404 AH/1983). Javāhir al-kalām fī šarḥ Šarāʾiʿ al-Eslām (Vol. 43). Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi [in Arabic].
Najashi, Ahmad ibn Ali (1365 SH/1986). Fihrist asmāʾ muṣannifī al-Šīʿah (Rijāl al-Najāšī). Qom: Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].
Sabzawari, Sayyid Abd al-A'la (1413 AH/1992). Muhaḏḏab al-aḥkām fī bayān al-ḥalāl va al-ḥarām (Vol. 29). Qom: Al-Manar Institute [in Arabic].
Saduq, Mohammad ibn Ali (1413 AH/1992). Man lā yaḥḍuruhu al-faqīh (Vol. 4). Qom: Islamic Publications Office of the Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].
Shafi'i, Mohammad ibn Idris (n.d.). al-Umm: al-Maṣādir al-feqhīyah (Vol. 6). Beirut: Dar Qutaybah for Printing, Publishing and Distribution [in Arabic].
Shahroudi, Sayyid Mahmoud (1423 AH/2002). Qirāʾāt feqhīyah muʿāṣirah (Vol. 1). Qom: Encyclopaedia of Islamic Jurisprudence Institute [in Arabic].
Shubairi Zanjani, Sayyid Musa (1419 AH/1998). Ketāb-e Nekāḥ (Vols. 20 & 21) [Book of Marriage (Vols. 20 & 21)]. Qom: Ray-Pardaz Research Institute [in Persian].
Tabrizi, Javad ibn Ali (1428 AH/2007). Tanqīḥ mabānī al-aḥkām: Ketāb al-diyāt. Qom: Dar al-Saddiqah al-Shahidah [in Arabic].
Tusi, Mohammad ibn Hasan (1373 SH/1994). Rijāl al-Ṭūsī. Qom: Society of Seminary Teachers [in Arabic].
Tusi, Mohammad ibn Hasan (1387 AH/1967). al-Mabsūṭ fī feqh al-Emāmīyah (Vol. 7). Tehran: Al-Maktabah al-Murtadaviyah [in Arabic].
Tusi, Mohammad ibn Hasan (1390 AH/1970). al-Istibṣār fīmā iḵtalafa min al-aḵbār (Vol. 4). Tehran: Dar al-Kotob al-Islamiyah [in Arabic].
Tusi, Mohammad ibn Hasan (1407 AH/1986a). al-Ḵilāf. Qom: Islamic Publications Office [in Arabic].
Tusi, Mohammad ibn Hasan (1407 AH/1986b). Tahḏīb al-aḥkām. Tehran: Dar al-Kotob al-Islamiyah [in Arabic].
Tusi, Mohammad ibn Hasan (1420 AH/1999). Fihrist kutub al-Šīʿah va uṣūlihim va asmāʾ al-muṣannifīn va aṣḥāb al-uṣūl. Qom: Muhaqqiq Tabatabai Library [in Arabic].
Taherabadi, Y. (2026). Jurisprudential Analysis of Blood Money for Paralysis of Body Parts: A Critical Review of Article 564 of the Islamic Penal Code of Iran. Journal of Islamic Law Research, 27(2), 1145–1170. https://doi.org/10.30497/law.2026.248706.3830
MLA
Taherabadi, Y. "Jurisprudential Analysis of Blood Money for Paralysis of Body Parts: A Critical Review of Article 564 of the Islamic Penal Code of Iran", Journal of Islamic Law Research, 27, 2, 2026, 1145–1170. doi: 10.30497/law.2026.248706.3830
HARVARD
Taherabadi, Y. (2026). 'Jurisprudential Analysis of Blood Money for Paralysis of Body Parts: A Critical Review of Article 564 of the Islamic Penal Code of Iran', Journal of Islamic Law Research, 27(2), pp. 1145–1170. doi: 10.30497/law.2026.248706.3830
CHICAGO
Taherabadi, Y., "Jurisprudential Analysis of Blood Money for Paralysis of Body Parts: A Critical Review of Article 564 of the Islamic Penal Code of Iran." Journal of Islamic Law Research, 27 2 (2026): 1145–1170, doi: 10.30497/law.2026.248706.3830
VANCOUVER
Taherabadi Y. Jurisprudential Analysis of Blood Money for Paralysis of Body Parts: A Critical Review of Article 564 of the Islamic Penal Code of Iran. Journal of Islamic Law Research. 2026;27(2):1145–1170 (In Persian). doi: 10.30497/law.2026.248706.3830