Prescribed Punishments

Abu Hurayrah and Zayd ibn Khalid told that two men brought a dispute before God’s Messenger, one of them saying, “Pronounce judgment between us in accordance with God’s Book,” and the other saying, “Yes Messenger of God, pronounce judgment between us in accordance with God’s Book, and allow me to speak.”

He told him to speak and he said, “My son who was a hired servant with this man committed fornication with his wife, and when I was told that my son must be stoned to death I ransomed him with a hundred sheep and a slave girl of mine; but when I asked the learned they told me that my son should receive a hundred lashes and be banished for a year, and that stoning to death applied only to the man’s wife.”

God’s Messenger replied, “By Him in whose hand my soul is, I shall certainly pronounce judgment between you in accordance with God’s Book. Your sheep and your slave girl must be returned to you, and your son shall receive a hundred lashes and be banished for a year. As for you, Unais, go to this man’s wife, and if she confesses stone her to death.” She confessed and he stoned her.

Zayd ibn Khalid told that he heard God’s Messenger giving command that an unmarried man who committed fornication should receive a hundred lashes and be banished for a year.

God sent Muhammad with the truth and sent down the Book to him, and the verse of stoning was included in what God most high sent down. God’s Messenger had people stoned to death and we have done it also since his death. Stoning is a duty laid down in God’s Book for married men and women who commit fornication when proof is established, or if there is pregnancy, or a confession.

Ubada b. as-Samit reported the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying, “Receive my teaching, receive my teaching God has appointed a way for those women (Cf. Al-Qur’an, 4:15). When the parties are unmarried they shall receive a hundred lashes and be banished for a year when they commit fornication and when they have been married they shall receive a hundred lashes and be stoned to death.”

I was informed by one who heard Jabir ibn Abdallah say, “Then we stoned him in Medina, but when the stones hurt him he ran away, and we caught up on him in the harra and stoned him to death.” In aversion by Bukhari on Jabir’s authority, after “he replied that he was” it says that he gave command regarding him and he was stoned in the place of prayer.

Then when the stones hurt him he fled, but was overtaken and stoned to death. The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) then spoke well of him and prayed over him.

When Maiz ibn Malik came to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and he* said, “Perhaps you kissed, or squeezed, or looked,” he replied, “No, Messenger of God.”

He then said, “Did you have intercourse with her?” asking the question in plain words, and when he replied that he had, he gave orders that he should be stoned to death. Bukhari transmitted it. * i.e. the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). The tradition leaves it to be inferred that Maiz had confessed to committing fornication.

Aba Huraira told that he heard the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) say, “When the slave woman of any of you commits fornication and the matter is clear, he should give her the appropriate beating, but not hurl reproaches at her. If she does it again he should give her the appropriate beating, but not hurl reproaches at her. If she does it a third time and the matter is clear he should sell her, even if only for a rope of hair.”

You people must carry out the punishment on your slaves, those of them who are married and those who are not, for a slave woman belonging to God’s Messenger committed fornication and he ordered me to beat her. But she had recently given birth to a child and I was afraid that if I beat her I might kill her, so I mentioned that to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and he said, “You have done well.” Muslim transmitted it. In a version by Abd Dawud he said, “Leave her till her blood stops flowing and then carry out the punishment on her, and carry out* the punishment on your female slaves”. Abu Dawud. *Here the verb is plural.

Abu Hurayrah told that when Maiz al-Aslami came to God’s Messenger and said he had committed fornication he turned away from him. He then came round to the other side and said he had committed fornication, but he turned away from him. He came round again saying he had committed fornication, and when he said it a fourth time God’s Messenger gave command regarding him and he was taken out to the harra and stoned.

When he felt the effect of the stones he ran away vigorously till he passed a man who had the jawbone of a camel with which he struck him, and the people struck him till he died. They then mentioned to God’s Messenger that he had fled when he felt the effect of the stones and the touch of death, and he said, “Why did you not leave him alone?”

A version has, “Why did you not leave him alone? Perhaps he might have repented and been forgiven by God.”

Ibn Abbas told that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) asked Maiz ibn Malik, “Is what I have heard about you true?” He asked what he had heard about him, and he replied that he had heard he had had intercourse with a girl belonging to the family of so and so. When he admitted it, and had acknowledged it four times, he ordered him to be stoned to death. Muslim transmitted it. (Here a tradition by Muslim has been placed in Section II.)

Yazid ibn Nuaim, on his father’s authority, told that Maiz came to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and confirmed the matter four times in his presence, so he ordered him to be stoned to death, but said to Hazzal, “If you had covered him with your garment it would have been better for you.” Ibn al-Munkadir said Hazzal had ordered Maiz to go to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and tell him.

Amr ibn Shuaib, on his father’s authority, told that his grandfather, Abdallah ibn Amr b. al-‘As, reported God’s Messenger as saying, ‘Forgive the infliction of prescribed penalties among yourselves, for any prescribed penalty of which I hear must be carried out.’ Abu Dawud and Nasai transmitted it.’

Aishah reported the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying, “Forgive the people of good qualities their slips, but not faults to which prescribed penalties apply.”

She reported God’s Messenger as saying, “Avert the infliction of prescribed penalties on Muslims as much as you can, and if there is any way out let a man go, for it is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.”

When a woman was forced against her will in the time of God’s Messenger he averted the punishment from her but inflicted it on the one who had molested her. The transmitter did not mention that he appointed a dower to be paid her.

He said that a woman went out in the time of the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) to go to prayer, and a man who met her attacked her and got his desire of her. She shouted and he went off, and when a company of the Emigrants came by she said, “That man did such and such to me.” They seized the man and brought him to God’s Messenger who said to the woman, “Go away, for God has forgiven you,” but of the man who had had intercourse with her he said, “Stone him to death.”

He also said, “He has repented to such an extent that if the people of Medina had repented similarly it would have been accepted from them.”

A man committed fornication with a woman and the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) gave command that he be given the appropriate beating, but on being told afterwards that the man was married he gave command that he should be stoned to death.

Said ibn Sad ibn Ubada told that Sad ibn Ubada brought the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) a man deficient in build and sick, a member of the clan, who had been found in the act of having illicit intercourse with a slave woman of theirs. The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “Get for him a stalk of the raceme of a palm-tree with a hundred twigs and strike him once.” It is transmitted in Sharh as-sunna; and there is something similar in Ibn Majah’s version.

God’s Messenger said, “If you find anyone doing as Lot’s people did, kill the one who does it and the one to whom it is done.”

Ibn Abbas reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If anyone has sexual intercourse with an animal, kill him and kill it along with him.” Ibn Abbas was asked what offence could be attributed to the animal and replied, “I did not hear anything about that from God’s Messenger, but I think he disapproved of its flesh being eaten or of any use being made of it when such a thing had been done to it.”

Jabir reported God’s Messenger as saying, “The thing I fear most for my people is what Lot’s people did.”

Ibn Abbas told that a man of B. Bakr ibn Laith came to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and made a statement four times that he had committed fornication with a woman, so he had a hundred lashes administered to him. The man had not been married. He then asked him to produce proof again the woman, and she said, “I swear by God, Messenger of God, that he has lied.” Then he was given the prescribed number of lashes for falsehood.

When my vindication came down (Al-Qur’an, 24:11 ff) the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) mounted the pulpit and mentioned that. Then when he came down from the pulpit he ordered that the two men and the woman* should be given the prescribed beating. Abu Dawud transmitted it. *The men are said to have been Mistah ibn Uthatha and Hassan ibn Thabit, and the woman Hamna daughter of Jahsh.

Ibn Abd al-Barr, Istiab. p. 285, says Mistah was beaten, but he does not commit himself on p. 127 about Hassan, or on p. 714 about Hamna.

Nafi said he was informed by Safiya daughter of Abu Ubaid that one of the Caliph’s slaves had intercourse with a girl who was among the fifth of the booty, forcing her to it against her will, and deflowered her. Umar had him beaten but did not have her beaten because he had forced her against her will.

Amr b. al-‘As told that he heard God’s Messenger say, ‘Fornication will not appear among any people without their being punished by famine, and bribery will not appear among any people without their being punished by terror.’’

Ibn Abbas and Abu Hurayrah reported God’s Messenger as saying, “Accursed is he who does what Lot’s people did.” In a version by him on the authority of Ibn Abbas it says that Ali had the two people concerned burned and that Abu Bakr had a wall thrown down on them. Razin transmitted it.

reported God’s Messenger as saying, “God who is great and glorious will not look at a man who has intercourse with a man or a woman through the anus.”

He reported him as saying, “There is no prescribed punishment for one who has intercourse with an animal.” Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud transmitted it. Tirmidhi quoted Sufyan ath-Thauri as saying that this is sounder than the first tradition, “Kill him who has intercourse with an animal,” (Cf. p. 763) and that the learned act according to this one.

Ubada b. as-Samit reported God’s Messenger as saying, “Enforce God’s prescribed punishments on those who are near and those who are distant, and let no one’s blame come upon you regarding.”

Ibn Umar reported God’s Messenger as saying, “Enforcing one of God’s prescribed punishments is better than forty nights rain in God’s land.”

Aishah reported the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying, “A thief’s hand should be cut off only for a quarter of a dinar and upwards.”

Ibn Umar said the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) had a thief’s hand cut off for a shield worth three dirhams.

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “God curse a thief who steals an egg and has his hand cut off, and steals a rope and has his hand cut off!”* (Bukhari and Muslim.) *It has been suggested that baida (egg or steel helmet) should have the latter meaning and that a ship’s rope should be understood, but the translation above is usually accepted as the meaning.

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “The hand is not to be cut off for taking fruit or the pith of the palm-tree.”

Amr ibn Shuaib, on his father’s authority, said his grandfather, Abdallah ibn Amr b. al-‘As, told that God’s Messenger was asked about fruit which was hung up and said, ‘If anyone steals any of it after it is put in the place where it is dried and it amounts to the price of a shield, he must have his hand cut off.’ Abu Dawud and Nasai transmitted it.’

Abdallah ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abu Husain al-Makki reported God’s Messenger as saying, “A hand is not to be cut off for fruit which is hung up, or for a sheep stolen by night from the mountain;* but when the sheep is in its fold or the fruit in the place where it is dried a hand is to be cut off for whatever reaches the price of a shield.” Malik transmitted it. * Harisa jabal.

It is used either of a sheep or goat stolen before it gets back from the mountain to the fold, or of one guarded in the mountain. The most satisfactory reason for the prescription would seem to be that animals kept in the mountain are not sufficiently protected.

Jabir reported God’s Messenger as saying, “Cutting off the hand is not to be inflicted on one who plunders, but he who does so conspicuously does not belong to us.”

He reported the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying, “Cutting off the hand is not to be inflicted on one who is treacherous, one who plunders, or one who snatches something.” Tirmidhi, Nasai.

It is transmitted in Sharh as-sunna that Safwan ibn Umayya came to Medina and slept in the mosque, using his cloak as a pillow. A thief came and took his cloak and Safwan seized him and brought him to God’s Messenger who ordered that his hand should be cut off.

Safwan then said, “This was not my intention. I give it to him as sadaqa.” God’s Messenger replied, “Why did you not do so before bringing him to me?” Ibn Majah transmitted something similar on the authority of Abdallah ibn Safwan who quoted his father’s authority, and Darimi did so also on the authority of Ibn Abbas

Busr ibn Artat told that he heard God’s Messenger say, “Hands are not to be cut off during a warlike expedition.” Tirmidhi, Darimi, Abu Dawud and Nasai transmitted it, but the last two have “journey” in place of “warlike expedition.”

Abu Salamah quoted Abu Hurayrah’s authority to the effect that God’s Messenger said regarding a thief, “If he steals cut off his hand, if he steals again cut off his foot, if he steals again cut off his hand, and if he steals again cut off his foot.” It is transmitted in Sharh as-sunna.

Jabir told that a thief was brought to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and he said, “Maim him,* so this was done. He was brought a second time and he said, ‘Maim him,’ so this was done.

He was brought a third time and he said, ‘Maim him,’ so this was done. He was brought a fourth time and he said, ‘Maim him,’ so this was done. He was brought a fifth time and he said, ‘Kill him,’ so they took him away and killed him. They then dragged him and cast him into a well and threw stones over him. Abu Dawud and Nasai transmitted it.

In Sharh as-sunna the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is reported as saying regarding the maiming of a thief, ‘Maim him, then cauterise him.’ * Where there has been one offence I have translated ‘cut off the hand’, but here, where the verb ‘to cut off’ is used without an object, I have found it more convenient to use a general word. In the previous tradition the hands and feet were mentioned in the Arabic.”

Fadalah ibn Ubayd said a thief was brought to God’s Messenger, and when his hand was cut off he gave command that it should be hung on his neck. Tirmidhi, Aba Dawud, Nasai and.

Abu Hurayrah reported God’s Messenger as saying, “When, a slave steals sell him, even though it be for half an uqiyah.”* Abu Dawud, Nasai and Ibn Majah transmitted it. * Nashsh, This is half an uqiya, or twenty dirhams.

Aishah told that when a thief was brought to God’s Messenger and he had his hand cut off, those who brought him said, “We did not think you would go so far as this with him.” He replied, “If Fatima had been the one, I would have had her hand cut off.” Nasai transmitted it.

Ibn Umar told that a man brought a slave of his to Umar and said, “Cut off his hand, for he has stolen a mirror belonging to my wife.” Umar replied, “Cutting off the hand may not be inflicted on him. It is your servant who has taken your belongings.”

Abu Dharr told that God’s Messenger addressed him by name and he replied, “At your service and at your pleasure, Messenger of God.” He said, “How will you do when death 1 smites people and a house, meaning a grave, will cost as much as a slave?”

On his replying that God and His apostle knew best, he said, “Show endurance.” Hammad ibn Sulaiman said that the hand of one who rifles a grave 2 should be cut off because he had entered the deceased’s house. Abu Dawud transmitted it. 1. Here “death” is used as a figure for a severe pestilence. 2. Mirqat, iv, 59, say this is done to steal the shroud.

Aishah said Quraish were anxious about the Makhzumi woman who had committed theft and asked, “Who will speak to God’s Messenger about her?” Then they said, “Who will be bold enough for it but Usamah ibn Zayd, God’s Messenger’s friend?”

So Usamah spoke to him and God’s Messenger said, “Are you interceding regarding one of the punishments prescribed by God?” He then got up and gave an address, saying, “What destroyed your predecessors was just that when a person of rank among them committed a theft they left him alone, but when a weak one of their number committed a theft they inflicted the prescribed punishment on him.

I swear by God that if Fatima daughter of Muhammad should steal I would have her hand cut off.” (Bukhari and Muslim). In a version by Muslim she said that a Makhzumi woman used to borrow goods and deny having received them, so the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) gave orders that her hand should be cut off. Her family went and spoke to Usamah and he spoke about her to God’s Messenger. Then he mentioned the tradition in similar form to what has preceded.

Abdallah ibn Umar told that he heard God’s Messenger say, “If anyone’s intercession intervenes as an obstacle to one of the punishments prescribed by God he has opposed God; if anyone disputes knowingly about something which is false he remains in the displeasure of God most high till he desists; and if anyone makes an untruthful accusation against a Muslim he will be made by God to dwell in the corrupt fluid flowing from the inhabitants of hell* till he retracts his statement.” Ahmad and Abu Dawud transmitted it. * Radghat al-khabal. In a version by Baihaqi in Shuab al-iman it says,

“He who assists in a dispute, not knowing whether it is true or false, will remain in God’s displeasure till he desists.” Baihaqi in Shuab al-iman.

Abu Umayya al-Makhzumi told that a robber who had made acknowledgment was brought to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), but no goods were found with him. God’s Messenger said to him, “I do not think you have stolen.”

He replied that he had and repeated it to him twice or thrice, making acknowledgment all the time, so he gave orders and his hand was cut off. He was then brought to him and God’s Messenger said to him, “Ask God’s pardon and turn to Him in repentance.”

He said, “I ask God’s pardon and turn to Him in repentance.” God’s Messenger then said three times, “O God, forgive him.” Abu Dawud, Nasai, Ibn Majah and Darimi transmitted it. Thus did I find it in the four texts quoted, in Jami al-usul, Shuab al-iman, and Maalim as-sunan on the authority of Abu Umayya, but in the texts of al-Masabih it is given on the authority of Abu Rimtha.* *This is the kind of misunderstanding which can easily arise owing to the similarity of امیۃ and رمثۃ if not carefully written.

Anas told that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) gave a beating with palm branches and sandals for drinking wine and that Abu Bakr gave forty lashes. (Bukhari and Muslim.) In a version on his authority it says that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) used to give forty stripes with palm branches and sandals for drinking wine.

When a drinker was brought in the time of God’s Messenger, during Abu Bakr’s Caliphate and in the beginning of Umar’s Caliphate, we beat him with our hands, sandals and cloaks, but at the end of Umar’s Caliphate he inflicted forty stripes, and when people were immoderate and excessively wicked he inflicted eighty stripes.

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “Beat anyone who drinks wine, and if he does it a fourth time kill him.” He said that after that a man who had drunk wine four times was brought to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and he beat him, but did not kill him. Tirmidhi transmitted it, and Abu Dawud transmitted it on the authority of Qablsa ibn Dhuaib.

Another version by both of them and by Nasai, Ibn Majah and Darimi on the authority of some of the companions of God’s Messenger, including Ibn Umar, Muawiyah, Abu Hurayrah and ash-Sharid, stops at “kill him.”* * This means that they gave only the Prophet’s words, and did not say anything about the man who was not killed.

I can still picture myself looking at God’s Messenger when a man who had drunk wine was brought before him and he told the people to beat him. Some struck him with sandals, some with sticks and some with mitakhas. Ibn Wahb said this means green palm fronds. Then God’s Messenger took some dust from the ground and threw it in his face.

When a man who had drunk wine was brought to God’s Messenger he told us to beat him, and some struck him with their hands, some with their garments and some with their sandals.

He then told them to reproach him, and they faced him and said, “You have not respected God, you have not feared God, and you have not shown shame before God’s Messenger.”

But when some of the people said, “God put you to shame!” he told them not to say that and help the devil to get power over him, but to say, “O God, forgive him. O God show mercy to him.”

Ibn Abbas told that a man who had drunk and become intoxicated was found staggering in the road, so he was taken to God’s Messenger, but when he was opposite al-Abbas’s house he escaped, and going in to al-Abbas he grasped hold of him. When the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was told that he laughed and said, “Did he do that?” and he gave no command regarding him.

Umair ibn Said an-Nakhai told that he heard Ali ibn Abu Talib say, “I am not one to have any feelings about a man who dies when I inflict a prescribed punishment on him, with the exception of one who has drunk wine, for if he were to die I would pay blood wit for him. Thai is because God’s Messenger did not lay down any specific custom regarding him.”

Thaur ibn 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.

Umar ibn al-Khattab told that a man called Abdallah whose laqab was Ass used to make the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) laugh. The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) 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.”

When a man who had been drinking was brought to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) 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 (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “Do not say such a thing. Do not help the devil to get power over him.”

The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “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 Sharh as-sunna.

Ali reported the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) 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.”

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “No more than ten lashes are to be given, except in the case of one of the punishments prescribed by God.”

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “When one of you inflicts a beating he should avoid striking the face.”

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “When a man calls another a Jew give him twenty lashes, when he calls someone a mukhannath* 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 gharib tradition. * Mukhannaths 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.”

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

grapes, dates, wheat, barley and honey. Wine (khamr) is what infects (khamara) the mind.

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.

Aishah said that when God’s Messenger was asked about bit, which is the nabidh* from honey, he replied, “Every liquor which intoxicates is forbidden.” (Bukhari and Muslim.) * Nabidh 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 khamr 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.”

Jabir told of a man who came from the Yemen and asked the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) about a liquor made from millet called mizr which they drank in their country.

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) 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 tinat al-khabal 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.

Abu Qatadah told that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) 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 nabidh from each separately.

Anas told that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) 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.

Tariq ibn Suwaid asked the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) 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.”

Abdallah ibn 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 Nasai, Ibn Majah and Darimi transmitted it on the authority of Abdallah ibn Amr. * Literally, ‘mornings.’

Jabir reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If a large amount of anything causes intoxication, a small amount of it is prohibited.”

Aishah reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If a faraq of anything causes intoxication, a handful of it is forbidden.”* Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud transmitted it. * To drink as much as a faraq (see p. 577) would be almost impossible, so the point of the tradition is to forbid anything which might in any conceivable circumstances cause intoxication.

An-Numan ibn Bashir reported God’s Messenger as saying, “From wheat wine is made, from barley wine is made, from dried dates wine is made, from raisins wine is made, and from honey wine is made.”

Abu Said al-Khudri said he had wine belonging to an orphan, and when al-Maidah (Al-Qur’an, 5) came down he asked God’s Messenger about it, telling him it belonged to an orphan, but he said, “Pour it out.”

Anas quoted Abu Talha as saying he told God’s Prophet he had bought wine for orphans who were in his charge, and he replied, “Pour out the wine and break the wine-jars.” Tirmidhi transmitted it, but declared it weak. In Abu Dawud’s version it says he asked the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) about orphans who had inherited wine and he said, “Pour it out.” He asked if he might not make vinegar of it and he told him he must not. Abu Dawud.

Umm Salamah told that God’s Messenger forbade every intoxicant and everything which produces languidness.

Dailam al-Himyari told that he said, “Messenger of God, we live in a cold land in which we do heavy work and we make a liquor from wheat to get strength from it for our work and, to stand the cold of our country.” He asked whether it was intoxicating, and when he replied that it was, he said they must avoid it. When he replied that the people would not abandon it, he said, “If they do not abandon it fight with them.”

Abdallah ibn Amr told that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) forbade wine, maisir, the kuba and ghubaira,* saying, “Every intoxicant is prohibited.” Abd Dawud transmitted it. *This is a comprehensive tradition not exclusively dealing with intoxicants, although the Prophet’s words might suggest that it does. Maisir was a game of chance and the kuba was a kind of drum wide at the ends and narrow in the middle which was looked on with disapproval.

The parts which refer to intoxicants are the wine (khamr) and the ghubaira which was an intoxicant made by Abyssinians from millet.

He reported the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying, “An undutiful son, a gambler, one who casts up what lie has given, and one who is addicted to wine will not enter paradise.” Darimi transmitted it. A version of his has a bastard instead of a gambler.

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “God has sent me as a mercy to the universe and as a guidance to the universe, and my Lord who is great and glorious has commanded me to annihilate stringed instruments, wind instruments, idols, crosses and pre-Islamic customs, and my Lord who is great and glorious has sworn, ‘By my might, none of my servants will drink a mouthful of wine without my giving him a similar amount of pus to drink, but he will not abandon it through fear of me without my giving him drink from the holy tanks’.”

one who is addicted to wine, an undutiful son, and a cuckold who agrees to his women-folk’s adultery.

one who is addicted to wine, one who breaks ties of relationship, and one who believes in magic.

Ibn Abbas reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If one who is addicted to wine dies he will meet God most high in the same condition as an idolater.” Ahmad transmitted it, Ibn Majah transmitted on Abu Hurayrah’s authority, and Baihaqi, in Shuab al-iman, gave it on the authority of Muhammad ibn ‘Ubaidallah who quoted his father’s authority. He said that Bukhari in his Tarikh mentioned it on the authority of Muhammad ibn Abdallah who quoted his father’s authority.’

It is all the same to me whether I drink wine or worship this pillar instead of God.* Nasai transmitted it. *He says that the one sin is as serious as the other.