۞ It is not Al-Birr (piety, righteousness, and each and every act of obedience to Allah, etc.) that you turn your faces towards east and (or) west (in prayers); but Al-Birr is (the quality of) the one who believes in Allah, the Last Day, the Angels, the Book, the Prophets and gives his wealth, in spite of love for it, to the kinsfolk, to the orphans, and to Al-Masakin (the poor), and to the wayfarer, and to those who ask, and to set slaves free, performs As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat), and gives the Zakat, and who fulfill their covenant when they make it, and who are As-Sabirin (the patient ones, etc.) in extreme poverty and ailment (disease) and at the time of fighting (during the battles). Such are the people of the truth and they are Al-Muttaqun (pious - see V. 2:2). 177 O believers, prescribed for you is retaliation, touching the slain; freeman for freeman, slave for slave, female for female. But if aught is pardoned a man by his brother, let the pursuing be honourable, and let the payment be with kindliness. That is a lightening granted you by your Lord, and a mercy; and for him who commits aggression after that -- for him there awaits a painful chastisement. 178 In [this law of] retribution there is life for you, O people of understanding, so that perhaps you will be mindful of God. 179 It is ordained for you that when death approaches one of you, and he leaves behind wealth, he must bequeath it to parents and near relatives in accordance with tradition; this is a duty upon the pious. 180 If anyone changes the bequest after hearing it, the guilt shall be on those who make the change. For Allah hears and knows (All things). 181 Then if one fears that the will maker (the deceased) has done injustice or sin, and he makes a reconciliation between the parties, there shall be no sin upon him; indeed Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful. 182