Editing Openai/6947f938-c5ac-800f-a335-68acb875307e (section)

=== Assistant: Yes — the Qur’an itself repeatedly and unambiguously confirms that only the actual perpetrator is liable, that no innoc… ===
Yes — the Qur’an itself repeatedly and unambiguously confirms that only the actual perpetrator is liable, that no innocent substitute may be punished, and that qiṣāṣ is restrained, proportional, and subordinate to mercy.
Below are the clearest Qur’anic verses that lock in the correct meaning of 2:178 and rule out the substitution interpretation.

I’ll group them by principle, so you can see how they interlock.

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: 

This principle is repeated verbatim multiple times (17:15, 35:18, 39:7).

📌 Implication
If “a woman must be killed for a woman” meant another woman, this verse would be violated.
Therefore, qiṣāṣ must apply to the killer himself — not a substitute.

==== ### ====

: 

Not:
* woman for woman
* slave for slave
* clan for clan

📌 This is the universal formula, and it matches the legal idiom used in 2:178.

==== ### ====

: 

📌 Key point
“Exceeding bounds” (الإسراف) includes:
* killing someone other than the murderer
* killing more than one person
* escalating retaliation

This verse explicitly bans the pre-Islamic practices that 2:178 was correcting.

==== ### ====

: 

📌 The killer is:
* alive
* personally liable
* capable of being forgiven
* called “brother”

This grammatically collapses any “replacement” reading.

==== ### ====

: 

📌 “Like” (بمثل) refers to:
* degree
* scope
* person responsible

Not category-matching.

==== ### ====

: 

This verse establishes:
* moral restraint
* rejection of blood escalation
* preference for life over vengeance

Which matches the end of 2:178:

: 

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: 

📌 Killing innocents as substitutes does not preserve life — it multiplies death.
Therefore, qiṣāṣ must be:
* narrow
* precise
* individual

==== When these verses are read together, the meaning becomes fixed: ====
* ❌ No collective punishment
* ❌ No substitute killing
* ❌ No category-based victim replacement
* ✅ Only the murderer is liable
* ✅ Retaliation is capped
* ✅ Forgiveness is preferred

==== : ====

Your question goes straight to the heart of Qur’anic legal reasoning, and the Qur’an answers it internally, clearly, and consistently.

If you want, next I can:
* show how early mufassirūn explained this exact point
* map how juristic disagreement arose despite the verses
* compare with Biblical and Roman retaliation laws

Just tell me.