the ruling on making the blood money mandatory. Their claim that blood money becomes mandatory upon the aqila (kinsmen) from the outset is contested; rather, it becomes mandatory upon the killer, and then the aqila bears it on his behalf. Even if we concede that it is mandatory upon them from the outset, this is only when they exist; but when they are non-existent, it is impossible to claim it is mandatory upon them. Furthermore, what they have mentioned is refuted by the examples we have presented. Consequently, the blood money becomes mandatory upon the killer if it is impossible for the whole of it to be borne [by the aqila], or the remainder of it if the aqila bears part of it. And Allah knows best.

1469 - Issue: He said: (The blood money of a free Kitabi (person of the Book) is half the blood money of a free Muslim, and their women are at half the rate of their men).

This is the apparent view of the school (Madhab). It is the school of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, Urwah, Malik, and Amr ibn Shu'ayb. It is reported from Ahmad that it is one-third of the blood money of a Muslim. However, he recanted this, for Salih reported from him that he said: "I used to say that the blood money of a Jew and a Christian is four thousand, but today I hold the view of half the blood money of a Muslim, based on the hadith of Amr ibn Shu'ayb and the hadith of Uthman which is narrated by al-Zuhri from Salim from his father." This is explicit in his recantation of the former view. It is reported from Umar and Uthman that his blood money is four thousand dirhams. This was the view of Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, Ata', al-Hasan, Ikrimah, Amr ibn Dinar, al-Shafi'i, Ishaq, and Abu Thawr, based on what Ubadah ibn al-Samit reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "The blood money for a Jew and a Christian is four thousand, four thousand." It is reported from Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, that he set the blood money of a Jew and a Christian at four thousand, and the blood money of a Magian (Zoroastrian) at eight hundred dirhams. Alqamah, Mujahid, al-Sha'bi, al-Nakha'i, al-Thawri, and Abu Hanifah said: His blood money is like the blood money of a Muslim. This is also reported from Umar, Uthman, Ibn Mas'ud, and Mu'awiyah,