Ibn Abi Asim
al-Diyat li-Ibn Abi Asim
- Author died
- 287 AH
- Editions
- Idarat al-Quran wa al-Ulum al-Islamiyyah
Kitab al-Diyat (Arabic: كتاب الديات, lit. 'The Book of Blood Moneys') is a specialized 3rd-century AH legal and hadith treatise authored by the hadith scholar and jurist Ibn Abi Asim (206–287 AH / 822–900 CE) . The work focuses on the prophetic traditions and legal rulings governing diyat (wergild and financial compensation for homicide, personal injuries, and bodily harm) .
Subject Matter and Scope
The treatise collects traditions and legal reports pertaining to Islamic jurisprudence on bodily offenses and compensation (al-jinayat wa-l-diyat) . It addresses topics including:
- Compensations assessed for loss of life, accidental killing, and quasi-intentional assault .
- Specific indemnities assigned for individual bodily members, such as hands, fingers, and teeth .
- Compensations designated for preexisting injuries or paralyzed limbs, such as defective eyes and paralyzed hands .
- The indemnity required for causing the miscarriage of a fetus (al-ghurrah) and liabilities borne by the agnatic kin (al-aqilah) .
Method and Juristic Character
Ibn Abi Asim composed the book following the methodology of classical traditionists (muhaddithun), grouping legal topics under descriptive thematic chapter headings and furnishing each report with complete chains of transmission (asand) back to the Prophet ﷺ and early authorities .
Bibliographers and biographers associate the author's legal writing with the traditionist and literalist methodology (al-qawl bi-l-zahir and the rejection of analogical deduction, qiyas) . Although early biographers such as Abu Nu'aym al-Isbahani described him as adhering to the Zahiri school, al-Dhahabi remarked that Ibn Abi Asim maintained independent hadith-based positions and authored a separate critical response discussing forty authentic narrations whose validity Dawud al-Zahiri had rejected .
Transmission and Modern Editions
Kitab al-Diyat served as a direct source for later hadith commentators and legal analysts, including Ibn al-Mulaqqin in his commentary al-Tawdih li-Sharh al-Jami' al-Sahih .
The book has been published in modern printed editions, including:
- An edition published by Idarat al-Qur'an wa-l-'Ulum al-Islamiyyah in Karachi (1407 AH) .
- An edition edited by 'Abd al-Mun'im Zakariyya, published by Maktabat al-Sumay'i in Riyadh (1424 AH) .
Answer updated