$2.34 million!
The Islamic principle of qisas, or retaliation, allows for blood money (diyya) to be paid by the perpetrator to the relatives of the deceased in cases of accidental death or even murder. This is not just an Islamic ritual; it is part of Islamic law and suffices as punishment for the murder if the relatives of the deceased agree.
In any case, the amount of compensation required is higher if the victim was a Muslim than if he was a non-Muslim. Only the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence allows for the possibility of capital punishment in the case of a Muslim who has murdered an unbeliever. The Maliki and Hanbali schools set a Muslim’s life as worth twice that of a non-Muslim. The Shafi’i school sets a Jew’s or Christian’s life as worth two-thirds that of a Muslim. Polytheists are valued less. The Shafi’i Sharia manual ‘Umdat al-Salik dictates: “The indemnity for the death or injury of a woman is one-half the indemnity paid for a man. The indemnity paid for a Jew or Christian is one-third the indemnity paid for a Muslim. The indemnity paid for a Zoroastrian is one-fifteenth that of a Muslim.” (o4.9)
The Iranian Shi’ite Sufi Sheikh Sultanhussein Tabandeh explains: “Thus if [a] Muslim commits adultery his punishment is 100 lashes, the shaving of his head, and one year of banishment. But if the man is not a Muslim and commits adultery with a Muslim woman his penalty is execution…Similarly if a Muslim deliberately murders another Muslim he falls under the law of retaliation and must by law be put to death by the next of kin. But if a non-Muslim who dies at the hand of a Muslim has by lifelong habit been a non-Muslim, the penalty of death is not valid. Instead the Muslim murderer must pay a fine and be punished with the lash….Since Islam regards non-Muslims as on a lower level of belief and conviction, if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim…then his punishment must not be the retaliatory death, since the faith and conviction he possesses is loftier than that of the man slain…Again, the penalties of a non-Muslim guilty of fornication with a Muslim woman are augmented because, in addition to the crime against morality, social duty and religion, he has committed sacrilege, in that he has disgraced a Muslim and thereby cast scorn upon the Muslims in general, and so must be executed….Islam and its peoples must be above the infidels, and never permit non-Muslims to acquire lordship over them.” — Sultanhussein Tabandeh, A Muslim Commentary on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
And why is the U.S. submitting to Sharia in this regard? In better days, a team of commandos would have done the job.
“Pakistan: CIA contractor released after ‘$2.34mln in blood is money paid,'” from AKI, March 16 (thanks to C. Cantoni):
Lahore, 16 March (AKI) – A Pakistani court on Wednesday freed an American CIA contractor hours after he was formally charged with two counts of murder, officials said.
Raymond Davis, 36, shot dead two men in the eastern city of Lahore on 27 January. He said he defended himself during an armed robbery.
Davis was acquitted after family members of the victims received “blood money” as compensation in accordance with sharia law, Pakistani English-language daily Dawn cited Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah as saying.
A lawyer for the families of two Pakistani men killed by an American CIA contractor says the United States paid $2.34 million in “blood money” to secure the man’s release, according to an Associated Press report….
United States ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter on the release of Davis said :”I wish to express my respect for Pakistan and its people, and my thanks for their commitment to building our relationship.”…