۞ Basic virtue is not just to turn faces to the East and the West, but true righteousness is that one must believe in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Book and the Prophets; and out of love for Allah, to give treasured wealth to relatives and to the orphans and the needy and the traveller, and to those who ask, and to set slaves free; and to keep the prayer established and to pay the charity; and those who fulfil their obligations when they make an agreement; and the patient during times of calamity, in hardships and during holy war; it is they who have proved true to their word; it is they who are the pious. 177 Believers, retribution is prescribed for you in cases of murder: the free man for the free man, the slave for the slave, the female for the female. If the offender is granted some remission by the heir of the slain person, the agreed penalty should be equitably exacted and should be discharged in a handsome manner. This is an alleviation from your Lord and an act of grace. He who transgresses after this shall have a painful punishment. 178 for, in [the law of] just retribution, O you who are endowed with insight, there is life for you, so that you might remain conscious of God! 179 IT IS ordained for you, when death approaches any of you and he is leaving behind much wealth, to make bequests in favour of his parents and [other] near of kin in accordance with what is fair; this is binding on all who are conscious of God. 180 Then if any man changes it after hearing it, the sin shall rest upon those who change it; surely God is All-hearing, All-knowing. 181 But if any man fears injustice or sin from one making testament, and so makes things right between them, then sin shall not rest upon him; surely God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate. 182