Scholarly Disagreement

Mālik and Aḥmad adopt the position indicated by this hadith: the indemnity for a dhimmī is one-half that of a free Muslim. Al-Khaṭṭābī remarked, “Nothing concerning the indemnity of the People of the Book is clearer than this.”

Abū Ḥanīfah and al-Shāfiʿī, on the other hand, hold that a dhimmī’s indemnity equals that of a Muslim, citing as proof the Almighty’s words: “If he belonged to a people with whom you have a treaty, then payment of blood-money is incumbent” (Qur’an 4:92).

At first glance, the unrestricted wording of the verse suggests complete equality. The response, however, is that the verse is general, and it is plain that the evidence supporting the first view is stronger and more persuasive. Allah knows best.