۞ 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 Ye who believe! prescribed unto you is retaliation for the slain; the free for the free, and a bondsman for a bondsman, and a woman for a woman. Yet unto whomsoever is pardoned aught by his brother, then a serving with lenity and payments with kindness. That is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy; so whosoever shall transgress thereafter, for him there shall be a torment afflictive. 178 In retaliation there is life for you, men possessed of minds; haply you will be godfearing. 179 It is prescribed, when death approaches any of you, if he leave any goods that he make a bequest to parents and next of kin, according to reasonable usage; this is due from the Allah-fearing. 180 So whoever changes the will after he has heard it – its sin is only upon those who change it; indeed Allah is the All Hearing, the All Knowing. 181 One who is afraid of the testator's deviations and sin and settles the matter among the parties involved, he has not committed a sin. God is All-forgiving and All-merciful. 182