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 part of Islamic law and suffices as punishment for the murder if the relatives of the deceased agree.
Thus now that this money has been paid, the matter is settled as far as Sharia is concerned, and there should be no further protests or agitation over this. About that we shall see, but it is a bad precedent in any case for the U.S. to abide by Sharia in this regard. However, that precedent has already been set so many times that one more is not going to change things significantly.
“Afghan massacre: Kandahar families given compensation,” from the BBC, March 25 (thanks to John):
Afghan families who lost relatives in the Kandahar massacre have been paid compensation by the US military.
They received $46,000 (£29,000) for each person killed and $10,000 (£6,300) for each person injured, Afghan officials and tribal elders said.
US staff sergeant Robert Bales was charged on Friday with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
Meanwhile, eight Afghan police officers and an Isaf foreign soldier have been killed by a bomb in Kandahar province….
Will anyone pay blood money for them?
Family members were informed of the payouts at a meeting with personnel from the US military and the Nato-led ISAF forces at the offices of Kandahar’s governor.
“We were invited by the foreign and Afghan officials in Panjwai yesterday and they said this money is an assistance from [US President] Obama,” Haji Jan Agha, who said he lost his cousins, told Reuters on Sunday.
Compensation payments by foreign forces in Afghanistan are often made in cases of the deaths of civilians.
Compensation is traditionally offered in Afghanistan in a bid to soften anger among a victim’s family and also as a gesture of good faith and healing.
Some tribes, however, refuse to take part, seeing cash payment for a life as a disgraceful act, and preferring to take revenge….