Prescribed Punishments

Thaur b. Zaid ad-Dailami told that ‘Umar sought counsel about the prescribed punishment for drinking wine and ‘Ali said to him, “I think you should give one who drinks it eighty lashes, for when he drinks he becomes intoxicated, when he is intoxicated he raves, and when he raves he makes up lies.” So ‘Umar inflicted eighty lashes as the punishment prescribed for drinking wine. Malik transmitted it.

‘Umar b. al-Khattab told that a man called ‘Abdallah whose <i>laqab</i> was Ass used to make the Prophet (ﷺ) laugh. The Prophet (ﷺ) had beaten him because of wine-drinking, but when he was brought to him one day and he gave orders and had him beaten, and then one of those present said, “O God, curse him. How often he is brought!” he said, “Do not curse to him. I swear by God that for all I know he loves God and His messenger." Bukhari transmitted it.

Abu Huraira said:

When a man who had been drinking was brought to the Prophet (ﷺ) he told those present to beat him, so some of us beat him with their hands, some with their sandals and some with their garments. Then when the man went away and one of those present said, “God shame you!’' the Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Do not say such a thing. Do not help the devil to get power over him.” Bukhari transmitted it.

Abu Huraira told that al-Aslami (i.e. Ma’iz. See p. 759) came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and testified four times that he had had illicit intercourse with a woman, while he all the time was turning away from him. Then when he confessed a fifth time he turned round and asked if he had had intercourse with her, and when he replied that he had he asked if he had done it so that his member penetrated hers. He replied that he had, and he asked whether he had done it like a collyrium stick when enclosed in its case and a rope in a well. On his replying that it was so, he asked whether he knew what fornication was and he replied, “Yes, I have done with her unlawfully what a man may lawfully do with his wife.” He then asked what he wanted by what he had said and he replied that he wanted him to purify him, so he gave command and he was stoned to death. Then God’s prophet heard one of his companions saying to another, “Look at this man whose fault was concealed by God but who could not leave the matter alone, so that he was stoned like a dog." He said nothing to them but walked on for a time till he came to the corpse of an ass with its legs in the air. He then asked where so and so and so and so were, and when they replied that they were there he said, “Go down and eat some of this ass’s corpse.” They replied, “Prophet (ﷺ) of God, who can eat any of this?” whereupon he said, “The dishonour you have just shown to your brother is more serious than eating some of it. By Him in whose hand my soul is, he is now among the rivers of paradise plunging into them.” Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Khuzaima b. Thabit reported God's Messenger as saying, “If anyone commits a sin and has inflicted on him the prescribed punishment for that sin, it is an atonement for him.” It is transmitted in <i>Sharh as-sunna</i>.

‘Ali reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, “If anyone transgresses and receives his punishment in this world, God is too just to repeat the punishment to His servant in the next; and if anyone transgresses and God conceals it and forgives him, He is too generous to go back upon a thing He has forgiven.” Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah transmitted it, Tirmidhi saying this is a <i>gharib</i> tradition.

Abu Burda b. Niyar reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, “No more than ten lashes are to be given, except in the case of one of the punishments prescribed by God.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, “When one of you inflicts a beating he should avoid striking the face.” Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Ibn ‘Abbas reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, “When a man calls another a Jew give him twenty lashes, when he calls someone a <i>mukhannath</i>* give him twenty lashes, and kill anyone who has intercourse with a woman who is within the prohibited degress.” Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a <i>gharib</i> tradition. *<i> Mukhannaths</i> were sexually abnormal men who imitated women. Some of them were signets.

‘Umar reported God’s Messenger as saying, “When you find a man has been unfaithful about spoil in God’s path, burn his goods and beat him.” Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud transmitted it, Tirmidhi saying this is a <i>gharib</i> tradition.

Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying, “Wine comes from these two trees, the date-palm and the grapevine.” Muslim transmitted it.

Ibn 'Umar told that ‘Umar gave an address on God’s Messenger’s pulpit, saying, “The prohibition of wine has come down (Al-Qur’an, 5:90) and it comes from five things:

grapes, dates, wheat, barley and honey. Wine (<i>khamr</i>) is what infects (<i>khamara</i>) the mind.” Bukhari transmitted it.

Anas said:

Wine was forbidden when it was forbidden (i.e. by the Qur’an), but we get only a little of the wine from grapes, most of our wine being from unripe dates and dry dates. Bukhari transmitted it.

'A’isha said that when God’s Messenger was asked about bit’, which is the <i>nabidh</i>* from honey, he replied, “Every liquor which intoxicates is forbidden.” (Bukhari and Muslim.) * <i>Nabidh</i> is a drink made from dates, raisins, honey, wheat, barley, etc. The ingredients were steeped in water in a vessel, and provided the drink was used before fermentation took place it was lawful.

Ibn ‘Umar reported God’s Messenger as saying, “Every intoxicant is <i>khamr</i> and every intoxicant is forbidden. He who drinks wine in this world and dies when he is addicted to it, not having repented, will not drink it in the next.” Muslim transmitted it.

Jabir told of a man who came from the Yemen and asked the Prophet (ﷺ) about a liquor made from millet called <i>mizr</i> which they drank in their country. The Prophet (ﷺ) asked whether it was intoxicating and when he replied that it was, he said, “Every intoxicant is prohibited. God has made a covenant regarding those who drink intoxicants to give them some <i>tinat al-khabal</i> to drink.” He was asked what that was and replied that it was the sweat of the inhabitants of hell, or the discharge of the inhabitants of hell. Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Qatada told that the Prophet (ﷺ) forbade mixing dried dates and unripe dates, mixing raisins and dried dates, and mixing dates beginning to take on colour and fresh dates, and told them to make <i>nabidh</i> from each separately. Muslim transmitted it.

Anas told that the Prophet (ﷺ) was asked about wine which was turned into vinegar* and forbade it. Muslim transmitted it. * This is said to have been done by putting onions or salt in it, or by placing it in the sun.

Wa’il al-Hadrami said that Tariq b. Suwaid asked the Prophet (ﷺ) about wine and he forbade him. When he told him that he made it only as a medicine he replied, “It is not a medicine, but is a disease.” Muslim transmitted it.

‘Abdallah b. ‘Umar reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If anyone drinks wine God will not accept prayer from him for forty days,* but if he repents God will forgive him. If he repeats the offence God will not accept prayer from him for forty days, but if he repents God will forgive him. If he again repeats the offence God will not accept prayer from him for forty days, but if he repents God will forgive him. If he repeats it a fourth time God will not accept prayer from him for forty days, and if he repents God will not forgive him,, but will give him to drink of the river of the fluid flowing from the inhabitants of hell.” Tirmidhi transmitted it, and Nasa’i, Ibn Majah and Darimi transmitted it on the authority of ‘Abdallah b. ‘Amr. * Literally, 'mornings.'