What is the mandatory compensation for a slave fetus that is aborted dead due to an injury to its mother?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Blood-Money (Diyyāt)
Primary text
If a slave fetus is aborted dead due to a blow to its mother, the compensation is ten percent of its mother's value. This is the opinion of Al-Hasan, Qatadah, Malik, Al-Shafi'i, Ishaq, and Ibn al-Mundhir. Al-Nu'man and Al-Zuhri held a similar view. This ruling is based on the principle that when a guaranteed entity dies due to injury, the compensation is one-tenth of what is due for the mother, analogous to the free woman's fetus. The value of the mother is assessed on the day the injury occurred to her.
Supporting text
Zayd ibn Aslam stated that five dinars, which is half of one-tenth of the Ghurrah, is obligatory. Al-Thawri, Abu Hanifah, and his companions held that half of one-tenth of the fetus's value is due if it is male, and one-tenth of its value if it is female. They argue this is based on the Ghurrah for a free woman being half of a man's Diyah and the full Diyah for a woman, thus prioritizing the fetus's own valuation over its mother's. Muhammad ibn Al-Hasan noted that the Madinan position could lead to the dead fetus being valued higher than if it were alive. We counter this by arguing that since the compensation for the fetus does not differentiate based on sex, unlike the free woman's fetus, the valuation must rely on the mother’s value, not the fetus’s potential valuation based on sex.