Prescribed Punishments

Abu Hurayrah and Zayd ibn Khālid al-Juhani (may Allah be pleased with both of them) reported: Two men from among the Bedouins came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "O Messenger of Allah, I adjure you by Allah to judge me according to the Book of Allah." The other disputant – who was smarter – said: "Yes, judge between us according to the Book of Allah, and give me permission to speak first." The Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Speak.’ He said: "My son was employed by this man, and he committed adultery with his wife. I was told that the punishment for my son would be stoning but that he could be ransomed for one hundred sheep and their offspring. I asked the people of knowledge, and they told me that the punishment for my son would be one hundred lashes and exile for one year and that this woman would be stoned." The Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: "By the One in Whose hand my soul is! I will judge between you according to the Book of Allah. The offspring and sheep will be returned, and your son is to be given one hundred lashes and exiled for one year. O Unays, go to that man's wife tomorrow, and if she admits, then stone her." So he went to her the next day, and she admitted it, and the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) gave the order that she be stoned.

‘Ubādah ibn As-Sāmit (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Learn from me, learn from me. Allah has ordained another way for them (women who commit illegal sexual intercourse). (If) a virgin (commits adultery) with a virgin, (the punishment will be) one hundred lashes and exile for a year. (If) a non-virgin (commits adultery) with a non-virgin, (the punishment will be) one hundred lashes and stoning (to death).”

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: A Muslim man went to the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) while he was in the mosque and called him, saying: "O Messenger of Allah, I have committed adultery." The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) turned his face away from him. So, the man came round (from the other side) towards his face and said: "O Messenger of Allah, I have committed adultery." The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) again turned his face away from him, until the man did this four times. When he testified four times that he had done so, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) called him, saying: "Do you suffer any form of insanity?" The man replied: 'No.' The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) then asked him: "Are you married?" The man answered: 'Yes.' The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said (to his Companions): "Take him away and stone him (to death)." Ibn Shihāb said: "Abu Salamah ibn ‘Abdur-Rahmān informed me that he heard Jābir ibn ‘Abdullāh say: ‘I was one of those who stoned him. We stoned him at the place of prayer. When the stones hurt him, he ran away. We caught him in Al-Harrah and stoned him (to death).'"

Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: When Mā‘iz ibn Mālik came to the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) (in order to confess adultery), the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "Probably you have only kissed, winked, or looked (at the lady)?" He said: "No, O Messenger of Allah." The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: using no euphemism: "Did you copulate with her?" The narrator added: "At that, (i.e. after his confession) the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) ordered that he be stoned (to death)."

‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Abbās reported that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb, while he was sitting on the Prophet's pulpit, said: "Verily Allah sent Muhammad (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) with the truth and sent the Book down to him. Part of what was revealed to him was the verse on stoning. We recited, understood, and comprehended it. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) did administer stoning and we administered it after his death. Yet, I am concerned that, after a long time has passed, someone may say: 'We cannot find stoning in Allah's Book,' and they will be led astray for abandoning an obligation that Allah has sent down. Indeed, stoning is established in the Book of Allah against those married men and women who commit adultery, when there is evidence, pregnancy, or a confession."

Abu Nujayd ‘Imrān ibn Husayn al-Khuza‘i (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that a woman from Juhaynah came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) when she was pregnant from adultery. She said: ''O Messenger of Allah, I have committed something that entails a prescribed punishment on me, so apply it to me.'' The Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) called her guardian and said to him: ''Be kind to her, and when she has given birth, come to me.'' He did accordingly. So the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) commanded that her clothes be tied around her, and should be stoned to death. Then he offered the funeral prayer for her. However, ‘Umar said to him: ''O Messenger of Allah, you pray over her although she had committed adultery?'' He said: ''Indeed she has made such a repentance that if it were to be divided among seventy from the people of Madīnah, it would be enough for them all. Has she found something better than offering her own soul to Allah, Glorified and Exalted?''

Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) cursed the effeminate men and the masculine women. He said: "Turn them out of your houses." Ibn ‘Abbās added: "So the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) turned so-and-so out, and ‘Umar turned so-and-so out.

‘Ā’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported: When my vindication was revealed, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) got up onto the pulpit, mentioned what happened, and recited (the verses of the Qur'an that had been revealed). When he came down from the pulpit, he ordered that the two men and the woman (who made the false accusation) be given their prescribed punishment (eighty lashes).

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I heard the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) say: "If somebody slanders his slave and the slave is innocent of what he says, he (the master) will be flogged on the Day of Judgment unless the slave really is as he described him."

‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) cut off (a thief's hand) for a shield that was worth three dirhams.

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "May Allah curse the thief who steals an egg and his hand is cut off for that, and he steals a rope and his hand is cut off for that."

‘Ā’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported: The Quraysh were greatly concerned about the case of the Makhzūmi woman who had committed theft. They wondered who should intercede for her with the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him). Some said: "Only Usāmah ibn Zayd, the Prophet’s beloved one, would dare do so." As Usāmah spoke to the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) about this issue, he said to him: "Do you intercede regarding one of the punishments prescribed by Allah?" Then, he got up and addressed the people, saying: "The people before you were ruined because if a noble person among them committed theft, they would leave him unpunished, but if a weak person among them committed theft, they would inflict the legal punishment on him. By Allah! Were Fātimah, the daughter of Muhammad, to commit theft, I would cut off her hand." Another wording reads: "She was a woman who used to borrow things from people and deny having taken them. So, the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) ordered that her hand should be cut off.”

‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Ās (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about fruit on the tree. He said: "Whatever a needy person eats without putting any in his pocket (and taking it away), there is no penalty on him. But whoever takes something away, he must pay a fine of twice its value and receive punishment. Whoever steals something after it has been stored properly, and its value amounts to the price of a shield, his hand must be cut off."

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: A man who had drunk alcohol was brought to the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and he gave the man about forty lashes with two palm branches. Anas added: “Abu Bakr did the same, but when ‘Umar became the caliph, he consulted the people, and ‘Abdur-Rahmān ibn ‘Awf said: ‘The lightest prescribed punishment is eighty (lashes).' So ‘Umar gave his commands accordingly."

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: Allah sent down the verse wherein He prohibited alcohol at a time when there was no other (intoxicant) drink in Madīnah except that prepared from dates.

‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that ‘Umar, while standing on the Prophet's pulpit, said: "O people, the prohibition of wine was revealed, which is made of five things: grapes, dates, honey, wheat, and barley. Wine is anything that clouds the mind (i.e. intoxicates). There are three things that I wish the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) had left us something decisive to which we would refer: the grandfather (his share of inheritance), the Kalālah (one who leaves neither ascendants nor descendants), and some questions related to usury."

Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Every intoxicant is Khamr (alcoholic drink), and every intoxicant is prohibited. Whoever drinks Khamr in this world and dies while being addicted to it without repenting will not drink it in the Hereafter."

Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: Raisins used to be soaked for the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) in a water skin, and he would drink it that day, the next day, and the following day. In the evening of the third day, he would drink it and give some to others. If anything was left, he would spill it.

Abu Burdah al-Ansāri (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) say: "No one should be flogged more than ten lashes except when it comes to one of the limits set by Allah."

‘Ā’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Forgive the people of good qualities their slips, but not faults to which prescribed corporal punishments apply."

‘Ali ibn Abi Tālib (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I would not blame myself for the death of any person when inflicting a prescribed corporal punishment on him, with the exception of the one who drinks alcohols, for if he were to die (when being punished), I would pay blood money to his family, because no punishment has been fixed by the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) for him.