a legal research in the issue of the retaliated punishment (qiṣāṣ) of a mother for murdering her child

according to the viewpoints of the two major sects (shī‘a and sunnī) and the article 221 of the islamic penal law, the verdict of retaliation (qiṣāṣ) in deliberate murder does not apply to a father who has murdered his child; however, according to the generally accepted view of the imāmiyya, the mother is not excluded from this verdict and is retaliated in qiṣāṣ for murdering her child. setting forth and examining the legal evidences of both viewpoints, the writers of this article have to a great extent regarded the exclusion of the mother from this verdict as justified and defendable with respect to the evidences.