And We ordained for them therein a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, and for wounds is legal retribution. But whoever gives [up his right as] charity, it is an expiation for him. And whoever does not judge by what Allāh has revealed - then it is those who are the wrongdoers [i.e., the unjust].
Sahih International
وَكَتَبْنَا
wakatabnā
And We ordained
Word breakdown
وَ
Harf · Conjunctionand
كَتَبْ
Fi'l · VerbAnd We ordained
to write, prescribe, decree; book, scripture
319× in the Quran · Very common
نَا
Ism · Personal pronounus/our
Grammar rules
وَكَتَبْنَا (And We ordained) is a past tense verb — the action already happened and is complete.
We translate it in past tense — "did", "created", "said", etc.
Lesson 8 · Verbs — Past & Presentوَكَتَبْنَا (And We ordained) starts with وَ, the most common Arabic word — it means "and".
We add "and" to connect this to what came before.
Lesson 4 · Particles