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As for their disagreement over its value, Mālik said: “Fifty dinars or six hundred dirhams.” This was a discretionary judgment on his part, not on the same footing as an established Sunnah. Abū Hanīfa said: “Fifty dinars or five hundred dirhams,” in accordance with his principle that blood money for those paying in silver is ten thousand dirhams.
Al-Shāfi‘ī, who holds that blood money for those paying in gold or silver is the value of the camels, however high that value may be, maintains that the slave given as compensation must be a girl of seven or eight years, free from defects. Below this age, she cannot look after herself and must not be separated from her mother. He said: “If no such slave is available, her value is due.” There is no disagreement on this, apart from Mālik’s discretionary assessment—may Allah be pleased with him—that her value should be fifty dinars or six hundred dirhams.
Dāwūd and the Zāhirīs held that any slave to whom the designation ghurra applies suffices, unless there is unanimous agreement that a slave of a particular age is unacceptable.
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As for their disagreement over who bears this compensation in cases of accidental injury, Mālik held that it is paid from the offender’s own wealth because it is less than one-third of the blood money. Al-Shāfi‘ī and Abū Hanīfa held that it is borne by the ‘āqila.
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As for their disagreement over who is entitled to it, there are three opinions:
The first is that it belongs to the mother, as compensation for an injury to her. This is the opinion of Rabī‘a.
The second is that it belongs to both parents, with one-third for the mother and two-thirds for the father. If either parent alone is entitled to it, that parent receives it all. This is the opinion of ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn Abī Salama, al-Mughīra, and Ibn Dīnār, and was Mālik’s initial opinion.
The third is that it is inherited from the fetus according to the prescribed shares of inheritance. Mālik subsequently adopted this position, and most of his followers hold it. And Allah grants success.
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As for the fetus of a Christian woman by a Christian man, Mālik held that the compensation is one-tenth of its mother’s blood money and one-twentieth of