whose amount is fixed and whose imposition is mandatory, no liability is incurred, as with flogging for illicit sex and amputation for theft. They disagreed regarding other cases.

Some held that liability is incurred for a permissible punishment but not for a mandatory one. This is the position of Abū Hanīfah, for he holds that liability is incurred when retaliation for an injury to a limb ultimately causes death, but not when a discretionary punishment imposed for a right of Allah Most High ultimately causes death.

Others held that liability is incurred for an unfixed punishment but not for a fixed one, regardless of whether it is mandatory or permissible(1). This is the position of al-Shāfiʿī.

Still others held that no liability is incurred in either case. This is the position of Mālik, Ahmad, and others.

[Chapter: The Rāfidī’s allegation against Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, that a pregnant woman miscarried out of fear of him]

Chapter(2)

The Rāfidī(3) said:

“He sent for a pregnant woman, summoning her(4), and she miscarried out of fear. The Companions told him, ‘We consider that you were administering discipline, and you bear no liability(5).’ Then he asked(6) the Commander of the Faithful, who held his male agnatic relatives liable for the blood money.”

The response is that this is a matter of independent legal reasoning over which the scholars disagreed. Umar ibn al-Khattāb used to consult the Companions—may Allah be pleased with them—about cases as they arose: he would consult Uthmān