Chapter on the Blood Money for the Nutfah (Sperm), Alaqah (Clinging Clot), Mudghah (Embryonic Lump), Bone, and Fetus

It was narrated by Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil from Yunus Al-Shaybani who said: I asked Abu Abdullah عليه السلام: "What if a drop of blood appears in the sperm-drop (nutfah)?" Imam عليه السلام replied: "For a single drop, it is one-tenth of the compensation for the nutfah, which is twenty-two dinars." I asked: "What if there are two drops?" Imam عليه السلام said: "Then it is twenty-four dinars." I asked: "What if there are three drops?" Imam عليه السلام said: "Then it is twenty-six dinars." I asked: "And four drops?" Imam عليه السلام said: "Then twenty-eight dinars. And for five drops, it is thirty dinars." Imam عليه السلام continued: "If it exceeds half of the sperm, then the compensation is calculated accordingly until it becomes a clot ('alaqah). When it reaches the stage of a clot, the compensation is forty dinars."

It was narrated by Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil from Abu Shibl who said: I was present with Yunus Al-Shaybani while Abu Abdullah عليه السلام was informing him about blood money (diyat). I asked Imam عليه السلام: "What if the sperm-drop (nutfah) came out mixed with blood?" Imam عليه السلام replied: "If it has clotted and the blood is pure, then it is forty dinars. But if it is black blood, then there is nothing upon him except disciplinary punishment (taʿzir), because pure blood is for the child, while black blood is from within the body." Abu Shibl asked: "What if the clot (Alaqah) has a vein-like piece of flesh in it?" Imam عليه السلام replied: "It is forty-two dinars, with one-tenth of it." I asked: "Is one-tenth of forty not four?" Imam عليه السلام said: "It is one-tenth of the muḍghah (chewed-like substance) because only one-tenth of it was lost. As it grows, the amount increases until it reaches sixty." I asked: "I saw in the muḍghah something like a solid bone knot." Imam عليه السلام said: "That is the bone, which initially starts with four dinars. If it increases, then add four more until it completes eighty dinars. Similarly, when the bone is covered with flesh, it follows the same ruling." I asked: "If a woman was struck, causing the fetus to miscarry and it is not known whether the fetus was alive or not?" Imam عليه السلام replied: "Far from it, O' Abu Shibl! Once five months have passed, life has been instilled in it, and full blood money (diyyah) becomes obligatory."

In the narration of Muhammad ibn Abi Umayr from Muhammad ibn Abi Hamzah from Dawud ibn Farqad from Abu Abdullah عليه السلام, it is reported: A woman came forward to complain about a Bedouin who had frightened her, causing her to miscarry her fetus. The Bedouin argued: "It neither cried out nor made any sound, and something like this is simply wasted (i.e., not compensated)." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said to him: "Be quiet!, O' rhyming speaker! Upon you is a ghurrah (compensation for a miscarried fetus) - either a male or female slave."

In the narration of Jamil ibn Darraj from Ubayd ibn Zurarah, he said: I asked Abu Abdullah عليه السلام: "The ghurra (compensation for a miscarried fetus) is sometimes valued at one hundred dinars and sometimes at ten dinars." Imam عليه السلام replied: "It is fifty."

In the narration by Al-Hasan ibn Mahbub from Ali ibn Riʾab from Abu Ubaydah from Abu Abdullah عليه السلام regarding a woman who drank medicine while she was pregnant to abort her child and then miscarried. Imam عليه السلام said: "If the fetus had developed bones covered with flesh and its hearing and sight had been formed, then she must pay the full blood money (diyyah) and hand it over to the child's father." Imam عليه السلام further said: "If it was still in the stage of a clot (Alaqah) or a piece of flesh (muḍghah), then she must pay forty dinars or provide a ghurra (compensation), handing it over to the father." I asked: "Does she inherit anything from her child's blood money?" Imam عليه السلام replied: "No, because she killed the child."

In the narration by Al-Hasan ibn Mahbub from Nuaym ibn Ibrahim from Abdullah ibn Sinan from Abu Abdullah عليه السلام regarding a man who killed the fetus of a female slave belonging to a group of people while it was still in her womb. Imam عليه السلام said: "If the fetus died in her womb after he struck her, then he must pay half of one-tenth of the value of the female slave. However, if he struck her and she miscarried the fetus alive and then it died, he must pay one-tenth of the value of the female slave."

Samaah asked Abu Abdullah عليه السلام about a man who struck his pregnant daughter, causing her to miscarry a stillborn child. The woman's husband sought legal action against her father. The woman said to her husband, "If this fetus has a diyyah (blood money), and I am entitled to an inheritance from it, then I give my share of the inheritance to my father." Imam عليه السلام responded: "It is permissible for her father to receive what she has gifted to him."

Al-Husayn ibn Saʿid narrated from Muhammad ibn Al-Fuḍayl who said: I asked Abu Al-Hasan عليه السلام about a thief who entered upon a pregnant woman, assaulted her, and caused her to miscarry. The woman then attacked the thief and killed him. Imam عليه السلام replied: "The blood of the thief is not avenged (yutallu), but the diyyah (blood money) for her miscarried fetus is due upon her."