or a pagan, or an atheist. They regarded this as an inference based on a descriptive quality.
In any case, the third view is, in my opinion, the weightiest: the blood-money for a disbeliever is half that for a Muslim. The basis for this is that the People of the Scripture are disbelievers, and they will abide forever in the Fire of Hell. What difference, then, is there between someone who affiliates himself with Judaism or Christianity—religions abrogated by Islam—and someone who affiliates himself with another religion? There is no difference before Allah. The punishment of the People of the Scripture will not be lightened for them on the Day of Resurrection; rather, like others, they will be dealt with according to the aggression and injustice they committed.
As for the response to those who cite the verse as evidence, we say: Authentic reports—sound and very good reports—establish that the blood-money for a disbeliever is half that for a Muslim.
His statement, “And their women are entitled to half,” means that the blood-money for a Magian woman is four hundred dirhams—that is, one hundred and twelve riyals. Thus, if someone deliberately kills a Communist woman, her blood-money is one hundred and twelve riyals. However, he incurs sin if she is under a covenant, protected status, or safe-conduct. If he deliberately kills a woman who does not pray, no blood-money is due for her, because there is no blood-money for killing an apostate: her life is not inviolable. Yet the killer is to be disciplined and punished at the judge’s discretion, because he has usurped the authority of the ruler.
His statement, “like Muslim women,” means that just as Muslim women are entitled to half, these women are likewise. The blood-money for a Muslim woman is half that for a Muslim man: fifty camels, one hundred cattle, one thousand sheep, five hundred dinars, or six thousand dirhams—except in cases below one-third, in which she is equal to a man. That is, an injury entailing one-third of the full blood-money is the same for her as it is for a man,