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Fatwa CenterHow to distribute the Diyah of an aborted fetus
Question
asslam u alaikum my husband and i aborted our first pregnancy. i think it was within 40 days.when we went to the doctor first time, no sac was formed.we went back after a week there was a sac but no heart activity and i had abortion. i am repenting it.it is kufr to despair from ALLAH mercy.plz tell me how to pay diya to my mother because i do not want to tell her.i have 2 sons now. do they get diya and what about my siblings
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, you and your husband are obligated to sincerely repent to Allaah because abortion is forbidden at all the stages of the development of the fetus according to the most preponderant opinion of the scholars 
. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 102388.
If the abortion took place after the fetus had taken human form (after 40 days) then it is the one who undertook this abortion who has to pay the Diyah (blood money) of this fetus as we clarified in Fataawa 87467, 85970 and 89089.
This Diyah should be paid to the heirs who were alive when it became due and this does not include those who were born later; so, your two sons have no share in [are not entitled to] this inheritance [of the Diyah]. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 134360. Also, those who carried out the abortion do not inherit anything from the Diyah.
The grandmother [the mother of the mother] does not inherit in principle when the mother exists, but since the mother is prevented from inheritance because she is the killer, she does not prevent her mother [i.e. the grandmother] from inheritance according to the view of the majority of the scholars.
Ibn Qudaamah 
said: “The person who is not entitled to the inheritance does not prevent others from the inheritance, this means that the one who does not inherit because he/she has a characteristic that prevents him/her from inheritance, like the difference of religion (between him/her and the inherited person), slavery and killing (the inherited person), then such a person does not prevent others from the inheritance according to most scholars – among the Companions and the Taabi’is (the generation that followed the companions) – with the exception of Ibn Mas’ood and those who are of his opinion.)”
However, the grandmother inherits only one sixth and the remainder of the Diyah should be divided among the other heirs, like the father (your husband) if he did not take part in the abortion, as nobody is entitled to inherit with him (in this case) except the grandmother. But if your husband contributed with you in the abortion, then he does not inherit and it is the ‘Asabah of the fetus (i.e. the relative who is entitled to inherit the residue after those who have fixed share in the inheritance) who would take the share of you husband.
Finally, it is not an obligation to inform someone who has a share in the Diyah of the fetus about the reality of the matter; one may say to him/her for instance: “This is a bounty from Allaah.”
Allaah Knows best.
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