The 365 · Verses · Day 241 · Justice
Justice lets you take back what was taken - or give it up and be forgiven.
وَكَتَبْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ فِيهَآ أَنَّ ٱلنَّفْسَ بِٱلنَّفْسِ وَٱلْعَيْنَ بِٱلْعَيْنِ وَٱلْأَنفَ بِٱلْأَنفِ وَٱلْأُذُنَ بِٱلْأُذُنِ وَٱلسِّنَّ بِٱلسِّنِّ وَٱلْجُرُوحَ قِصَاصٌ ۚ فَمَن تَصَدَّقَ بِهِۦ فَهُوَ كَفَّارَةٌ لَّهُۥ ۚ وَمَن لَّمْ يَحْكُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ
“In the Torah We prescribed for them a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, an equal wound for a wound: if anyone forgoes this out of charity, it will serve as atonement for his bad deeds. Those who do not judge according to what God has revealed are doing grave wrong. (Quran 5:45)”
Svenska: Och i denna [Tora] föreskrev Vi för dem att ett liv [skall tas] för varje liv [som spills] och ett öga för ett öga och en näsa för en näsa och ett öra för ett öra och en tand för en tand och för varje sår ett motsvarande sår. Men den som för Guds skull vill förlåta [och avstå från hämnd] kan få förlåtelse [för egen synd]. Ja, de som inte dömer i enlighet med vad Gud har uppenbarat begår orätt mot sig själva.
The story
This āyah, al-Saʿdi notes, reports laws Allah prescribed in the Torah: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, and 'wounds equal for equal.' The measure is exact. Al-Saʿdi explains that retaliation (qiṣāṣ) means doing to the offender precisely what he did - the same limb, the same site, length, width and depth - so that redress never tips over into a new injustice. Ibn Kathir adds a condition the jurists drew from it: retaliation for a wound waits until the wound heals, lest an unforeseen complication turn measured justice into excess. Then the verse pivots. 'If anyone forgoes this out of charity, it will serve as atonement.' Ibn Kathir cites Ibn ʿAbbas: pardoning the retaliation as charity brings expiation to the offender and reward to the one wronged; a ḥadīth adds that whoever forgoes his right to retaliate is himself forgiven the like by Allah. Al-Saʿdi reads the atonement both ways - the pardoner, who released the one who injured him, finds Allah releasing his own sins in turn. Justice here is not only the right to exact an equal wound; it is the freedom, once that right is fully yours, to lay it down and let Allah settle the account more generously than any court could.
In the language
The verse does not say 'whoever forgives' but faman taṣaddaqa bihi - literally, 'whoever gives it away as ṣadaqah,' charity. The right of retaliation is treated as a possession the victim owns, and relinquishing it is filed under the vocabulary of almsgiving rather than mere pardon. Ibn Kathir's citations turn on this: Ibn ʿAbbas reads the giving-as-charity as an act that earns the victim reward with Allah, exactly as material charity does, while cleansing the offender. Al-Saʿdi extends the logic - because the pardoner gave away something rightfully his, Allah, whom al-Saʿdi calls 'more worthy to pardon what is His,' answers the gift in kind. The wording reframes forgiveness: not weakness or the loss of a claim, but the spending of a valuable one in Allah's cause. And like all charity, it is credited to the giver, not the receiver.
Why this verse
Because true justice must hold both blades: the right to exact an exact recompense, and the higher right to release it. A system that only punishes is incomplete; the verse makes mercy the crown of justice, not its enemy - and promises the one who forgoes his claim a reward no verdict can match.
Bring it into today
Someone has wronged you - a debt unpaid, a reputation damaged, an injury done. Islam first affirms your claim: you are entitled to redress, measured and fair, not endless. That matters, because forgiveness preached to someone never allowed to feel wronged is hollow. But once the right is truly yours, the verse opens a second door. To forgo it 'as charity' is not to pretend the wrong didn't happen; it is to give away a claim you could rightfully press, and to let Allah credit it to your account. Practically: name the wrong honestly, know what you are actually owed, and only then decide. If you choose to release it, do so as ṣadaqah - for Allah, expecting reward from Him, not gratitude from the offender. And notice the ḥadīth Ibn Kathir cites: the one who pardons his own injury is himself forgiven the like. The account you settle in someone else's favor is quietly settled in yours.
A reflection to carry
The verse holds two truths we usually keep apart. Being wronged is real, and you are allowed to want it made right - Islam does not shame the victim into silence. Yet the most honored response, once your right is secure, is to give it away as charity. Notice the order: the claim is affirmed before it is released, which is why this forgiveness has weight - a deliberate gift, not denial. What are you owed - a debt, an apology, a retraction? You may press for it justly. Or you could hand it to Allah as ṣadaqah, and trust that whoever forgoes his own injury is forgiven the like.
Sources: Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
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