than a polytheist.” Thus, a believing slave is better than a polytheist who is a protected non-Muslim subject. How, then, can the latter not be executed in retaliation for killing him? A believing slave is equal to free believing women, as this verse indicates. This is the position of the vast majority of earlier and later scholars.

This argument is particularly strong according to Ahmad’s position, since he accepts a slave’s testimony just as he accepts a free person’s, unlike that of a protected non-Muslim subject. Why, then, should a free person not be executed in retaliation for killing a slave, when both are believers? The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said:

“The blood of believers is of equal value.”