۞ 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, the law of retribution has been prescribed for you in cases of murder; if a free man commits a murder, the free man shall be punished for it and a slave for a slave: likewise if a woman is guilty of murder the same shall be accountable for it. But in case the injured brother is willing to show leniency to the murderer, the blood money should be decided in accordance with the common law and the murderer should pay it in a genuine way. This is an allowance and mercy from your Lord. Now there shall be a painful torment for anyone who transgresses the limits after this. O men of understanding. 178 And there is life for you in (the law of) retaliation, O men of understanding, that you may guard yourselves. 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 Whoever intentionally changes the will of a deceased person, he has committed a sin. God is All-hearing and All-knowing. 181 But he who fears an inclination to a wrong course or an act of disobedience on the part of the testator, and effects an agreement between the parties, there is no blame on him. Surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. 182