۞ Piety does not lie in turning your face to East or West: Piety lies in believing in God, the Last Day and the angels, the Scriptures and the prophets, and disbursing your wealth out of love for God among your kin and the orphans, the wayfarers and mendicants, freeing the slaves, observing your devotional obligations, and in paying the zakat and fulfilling a pledge you have given, and being patient in hardship, adversity, and times of peril. These are the men who affirm the truth, and they are those who follow the straight path. 177 Believers, in case of murder, the death penalty is the sanctioned retaliation: a free man for a free man, a slave for a slave, and a female for a female. However, if the convicted person receives pardon from the aggrieved party, the prescribed rules of compensation must be followed accordingly. This is a merciful alteration from your Lord. Whoever transgresses against it will face a painful punishment. 178 And there is life for you in retaliation, O men of understanding, that ye may ward off (evil). 179 It is prescribed for you, when death approaches any of you, if he leaves wealth, that he make a bequest to parents and next of kin, according to reasonable manners. (This is) a duty upon Al-Muttaqun (the pious - see V. 2:2). 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 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