What is the consequence if a person throws a projectile at a free non-Muslim (Kafir) who subsequently dies, having converted to Islam before the projectile struck?
Chapter on Retaliation (Qawad)
Al-Mughni
Book of Wounds
Primary text
If a person throws a projectile, and the target, a non-Muslim, converts to Islam and is freed before the projectile strikes him, resulting in death, there is no Qisas, but the perpetrator owes the blood money for a deceased free Muslim. This is the view of Ibn Hamid and the madhhab of Al-Shafi'i. The basis is that the perpetrator did not transgress against a life equivalent to his at the time of the act, thus Qisas is not incumbent, just as if he threw at an enemy combatant (Harbi) or apostate who then converted before impact. If the thrower intended to kill a living Muslim but the projectile missed, only to strike him later after he died from an unrelated cause, nothing is due. If he threw at an enslaved non-Muslim who was freed and accepted Islam before impact, the blood money of a free Muslim is due.
Supporting text
Abu Bakr argued Qisas is obligatory because the act was a deliberate, unjust killing of an equivalent, just as if the victim were a free Muslim at the time of throwing. Abu Hanifa stated that for an enslaved person, the due is the blood money of a slave to the master, as the injury stems from the release of the missile, making the initial state the criterion, akin to the state at wounding. For a non-Muslim, Abu Hanifa holds his blood money is that of a Muslim, and a Muslim can be executed for killing him, and a free person for killing a slave. The rebuttal against Abu Hanifa is that the perpetrator did not transgress against a life equivalent to his at the time of throwing.