What is the prescribed indemnity for a fetus lost due to injury, assuming it was viable for life?

General Chapter

Al-Mughni

Book of Blood-Money (Diyyāt)

Book 48 · Issue 3 · Bab 1

Open in Qurani

Primary text

The indemnity is the diya of a free person if the fetus would have been free, or its value if it was a slave, provided the miscarriage occurred at a time when survival is conceivable for such a fetus, which is six lunar months and beyond. This is the position of the majority of scholars. Ibn al-Mundhir stated that there is consensus among all scholars whose opinions are known that a full diya is due for a fetus that is miscarried alive from an injury, including Zayd ibn Thabit, Urwah, al-Zuhri, al-Sha'bi, Qatadah, Ibn Shubrumah, Malik, al-Shafi'i, Ishaq, Abu Thawr, and the proponents of reason (Ahl al-Ra'y). This is because the fetus died from the injury after its birth at a time when survival is possible for it, making it akin to the fetus killed after being fully delivered.