Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Although Abu Hanifah, al-Shafiʿi, and a group of scholars dissented, asserting that the diyah remains one-half in both minor and major amounts, the Sunnah is the stronger proof. The distinction between what is less than one-third and what exceeds it is that the former is a small sum; therefore the woman’s loss is made good by granting her parity with the man. For this reason the diyah of a male and a female fetus is identical, because its diyah—the ghurra—is slight, so every amount below one-third is treated like the fetus …” End quote.

The diyah for a slave (qinn) is his or her market value—male or female, young or old—whatever that value may be. There is unanimous agreement on this so long as that value is lower than the diyah of a free person. If it equals or exceeds the diyah of a free person, the established view of Ahmad, and the opinions of Malik, al-Shafiʿi, and Abu Yusuf, is that the perpetrator must still pay the slave’s full value, however high it may be.

When a fetus, whether male or female, is expelled dead because of an assault on its mother—intentional or accidental—the required compensation is a ghurra, that is, a male or female slave worth five camels. Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ruled, concerning the fetus of a woman from Banu Lihyan who miscarried a stillborn child, that the compensation is a ghurra, a male or female slave.” Agreed upon.

This ghurra is inherited from the fetus as though it had been born alive, for it is his diyah; this is the view of the majority. The ghurra is valued at five camels—one-tenth of his mother’s diyah.