What is the ruling on liability if a partner strikes a jointly-owned female slave, causing miscarriage, after the striker freed her while insolvent?

General Chapter

Al-Mughni

Book of Blood-Money (Diyyāt)

Book 48 · Issue 2 · Bab 1

Open in Qurani

Primary text

If the striker frees the slave while insolvent, his share of her and her offspring are freed. He owes his partner half of one-tenth of the mother's value. He owes half of the *ghurrah* (blood money for a fetus) concerning the half that became free, which passes to his heirs as inheritance, akin to the property of the fetus, where the mother inherits based on the extent of freedom in the fetus. The remainder passes to the other heirs. This is the opinion of Al-Qadi and the implication of the saying of Ibn Hamid, which is the madhhab of Al-Shafi'i.

Supporting text

The implication of the saying of Abu Bakr holds that the striker is not liable to compensate for what he freed because the act of freeing occurred after the injury, and liability is fixed at the time of the injury.