DIAH, DIAT, a name given by the Arabs to the puniſhment of retaliation. By the Mahometan law, a brother, or the next relation of a murdered perſon, ought to take part againſt the murderer, and demand his blood in reparation for that which he has ſhed. Before the time of Mahomet, the Arabs had a cuſtom of putting a freeman of their priſoners to death in lieu of every ſlave they loſt in battle, and a man for every woman that was killed. But Mahomet regulated the laws of reſtribution; diſtributing in the Alcoran, by the diat, that a freeman ſhould be required for a freeman, and a ſlave for a ſlave. The Turks, probably in conſequence of this law, formerly maſſacred almoſt all their priſo-
ners of war, but they now content themſelves with enſlaving and ſelling them.