[Sūrah lxxxi. 8]: “… And when the damsel that had been buried alive shall be asked (at the Day of Judgment) for what crime she was put to death.”
FIDYAH (فدية). A ransom. From fidāʾ, “to ransom,” “to exchange.” An expiation for sin, or for duties unperformed. The word occurs three times in the Qurʾān:—
[Sūrah ii. 180]: “For those who are able to keep it (the fast) and yet break it, there shall be as an expiation the maintenance of a poor man.”
[Sūrah ii. 192]: “Perform the pilgrimage and the visitation of the holy places.… But whoever among you is sick, or hath an ailment of the head, must expiate by fasting, or alms, or a sacrifice.”
[Sūrah lvii. 14]: “On that day (the Day of Judgment) no expiation shall be taken from you (i.e. the hypocrites) or from those who do not believe; your abode is the fire.”
The other word used in the Qurʾān for the same idea is kaffārah. [[KAFFARAH], [EXPIATION].]
FIG. Arabic at-Tīn (التين). The title of the XCVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, so called because Muḥammad makes the Almighty swear by that fruit in the first verse. Al-Baiẓāwī says God swears by figs because of their great use. They are most excellent, because they can be eaten at once, having no stones, they are easy of digestion, and help to carry off the phlegm, and gravel in the kidneys or bladder, and remove obstructions of the liver, and also cure piles and gout. (Tafsīru ʾl-Baiẓāwī, in loco.)
FIJĀR (فجار). Lit. “That which is unlawful.” A term given to a series of sacrilegious wars carried on between the Quraish, and the Banū Hawāzin, when Muḥammad was a youth, about A.D. 580–590. (Muir, vol. ii. 3.)
AL-FĪL (الفيل). The title of the CVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, as it gives an account of the Aṣḥābu ʾl-Fīl, or “People of the Elephant.” [[ELEPHANT].]
FINES. Arabic Diyah (دية). A term which, in its strictest sense, means a sum exacted for any offence upon the person, in consideration for the claim of qiṣāṣ, or retaliation, not being insisted upon. (This does not apply to wilful murder.) A full and complete fine is that levied upon a person for manslaughter, which consists of either one hundred female camels or ten thousand dirhams (silver), or one thousand dīnārs (gold).