Section: If some speech is lost, a portion of the diya becomes due in proportion to what was lost. This is reckoned by the letters of the alphabet, which are twenty-eight letters excluding "la" (lām-alif), for its place of articulation is the same as that of the lām and the alif. Thus, whatever number of letters is lost, a corresponding portion of the diya becomes due, because speech is completed by all of them; therefore, the compensation for the lost portion must be equal to its proportion of speech. Thus, for one letter, one-fourth of one-seventh of the diya is due; for two letters, one-half of one-seventh; and for four letters, one-seventh. There is no difference between letters that are light on the tongue and those that are heavy, because whatever has a set amount for it does not differ due to a difference in its quantity, like the fingers. It is possible that the diya could be divided among the letters in which the tongue has a function, excluding the labial letters, which are four: bā', mīm, fā', and wāw, and also excluding the six guttural letters: hamza, hā', ḥā', khā', ‘ayn, and ghayn. These are ten letters, leaving eighteen letters for the tongue, upon which its diya is divided; because the diya becomes due by the cutting of the tongue and the loss of these letters alone while it remains. If the diya is due for them individually, then it is due for some of them in proportion to their share; so for one letter, one-half of one-ninth of the diya is due; for two, one-ninth; and for three, one-sixth. This is the opinion of some of the Shafi'i companions. If one commits an offense against his lip and some letters are lost, it is due in proportion to that, and likewise if some guttural letters are lost due to his offense. It should be that it is due in proportion to them out of the twenty-eight, as a single position. [If a letter is lost and he becomes unable to articulate a word, nothing is due beyond the arsh (indemnity) for the letter, because compensation is only due for what has been destroyed.] If a letter is lost and he replaces it with another letter—for example, if he used to say "dirham" and now says "dilham" or "digham" or "dīham"—then he is liable for the lost letter, because what has replaced it does not perform the function of the lost letter in recitation or otherwise. If he commits an offense against him and the replacement letter is lost, its diya is also due, because it is an original.