Determining the Time Criterion for the Developmental Stages of the Fetus

Foqaha have consensus of opinion on the proof of full diya[1] for the fetus when the soul enters body of the fetus; however, on the amount of diya for the stages before the onset of the soul and the number of these stages they are of different opinions. According to the Qur'an and narrations, foqaha set five stages before attaching soul to the fetus, which are notfeh[2], alaqah[3], mozghah[4], Izam[5], lahm[6] and one stage at the time of attaching soul (breathing spirit) to the body, i.e., khalqan akhar[7]. Accordingly, on the basis of various narrations, they have set a specific diya for each stage. Notably, for different stages of fetal development, in many narrations, a time criterion has been presented but many foqaha, due to the conflict between these narrations, have renounced to issue fatwa based on them and have not set a time criterion in their fatwas. Taking advantage of Ibn Idris' point of view, the present study has made an attempt to gather among all the related narrations as much as possible, and thus to determine a clear time criterion for the developmental stages of the fetus and the diya of each stage. According to what has been demonstrated in this article, for every day of fetal development, one thousandth of a full diya (one dinar) is fixed until the stage the spirit/soul is breathed into the fetus, which is on the 120th day. Right after this stage, the full diya is fixed. So, the diya of the fetus starts from 1 dinar and reaches 119 dinars by the time the soul is mature at four months. After that; that is, at the time of completion of the body and soul, it will be 1000 dinars.