Does the mere presence of a crowd dispersing from a location where a body is found constitute Lawth?
Chapter on Qasamah (Oaths regarding murder)
Al-Mughni
Book of Blood-Money (Diyyāt)
Primary text
The second narration attributed to Ahmad states that Lawth is whatever makes the claimant's assertion likely to be true, which includes a group dispersing from a location where a body is found, establishing Lawth against each member of that group. If the guardian claims against one person and he denies being with the group, his word is accepted with his oath, according to Al-Qadi and the Shafi'i school, based on the presumption of absence unless proven otherwise. Conversely, if people crowd together in a narrow space and a body is found among them, Ahmad stated this is not Lawth; rather, the blood money (diyah) is taken from the public treasury (Bayt al-Mal), as narrated from 'Umar. This view is also held by Ishaq, Al-Hasan, and Al-Zuhri in cases of death by crushing, though Al-Hasan and Al-Zuhri held that the diyah is due from those present as the killing resulted from their actions.
Supporting text
Malik ruled that the blood money is forfeited (hudar) because the killer is unknown and no Lawth is found to necessitate Qasamah. Some scholars hold that if death occurs in a crush, the ruling defaults to cases without Lawth, following the opinion that Lawth must be established by definite causes like enmity, and extending the ruling based on conjecture (mazannah) via analogy is invalid due to the variability of circumstances.