45/18, 19: Chapter
Sunan an-Nasai 4760 — No Diyah for Biting
Retaliation For A Bite And Mentioning The Differences In The Report Of The Narrators Of The Narration Of 'Imran bin Husain Concerning That
No Diyah for Biting: A Hadith on Fair Liability
Sunan an-Nasai : 4760
Sunan an-NasaiHadith Number 4760
أَخْبَرَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْمُثَنَّى، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ جَعْفَرٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنْ قَتَادَةَ، عَنْ زُرَارَةَ، عَنْ عِمْرَانَ بْنِ حُصَيْنٍ، قَالَ قَاتَلَ يَعْلَى رَجُلاً فَعَضَّ أَحَدُهُمَا صَاحِبَهُ فَانْتَزَعَ يَدَهُ مِنْ فِيهِ فَنَدَرَتْ ثَنِيَّتُهُ فَاخْتَصَمَا إِلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ " يَعَضُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَخَاهُ كَمَا يَعَضُّ الْفَحْلُ لاَ دِيَةَ لَهُ " .
'Imran bin Husain Narrated from:
Ya'la fought with a man, and one of them bit the other, who pulled his hand away from his mouth, and a front tooth fell out. They referred their dispute to the Messenger of Allah and he said: 'Would one of you bite his brother as a stallion bites? There is no Diyah for that.
Reference : Sunan an-Nasa'i 4760In-book reference : Book 45, Hadith 55English translation : Vol. 5, Book 45, Hadith 4764
Summary of Sunan an-Nasai Hadith 4760
This hadith about diyah for biting gives a clear lesson on fair responsibility. Ya'la fought with a man, and one of them bit the other. The bitten person pulled his hand away from the mouth of the one biting him, and a front tooth fell out. When they brought the dispute to the Messenger of Allah, he rejected the claim for Diyah. His words compared such biting to the bite of a stallion, showing how wrong and harmful the action was. The main point is simple: a person who starts harm in this way cannot then demand blood money when the other person pulls away from that harm. This no diyah for biting hadith teaches that justice looks at the cause of the injury, not only the injury itself.
What we learn from this hadith
- A person should not harm another and then demand payment for the result of that harm.
- The Prophet judged the biting claim invalid because the tooth fell during the other person's attempt to escape the bite.
- Disputes should be taken to fair judgment rather than settled by anger.
- The hadith warns against animal-like aggression between brothers.
