Fixed Penalty of Intoxication

FIXED PENALTY OF INTOXICATION

Stages of wine prohibition

While wine was being sold in its inns in Makkah, Allah sent Muhammad.
 Its commerce was popular, however, there were some wise men, like Abu-Bakr AL-Siddiq, who did not approach it as they knew the mental disorder caused by it.

①When Muslims migrated to AL-Madinah, the Holy Qurᶦan began to hint at wine disadvantages.

God says ﴾They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, “In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit.”﴿Chapter of the Heifer.

②Once, a group of drunken people were praying and their leader was reciting the verse ﴾Say, “O disbelievers (1) I do not worship what you worship(2)﴿incorrectly.

He said, “And we worship what you worship.”

So, Allah revealed the verse ﴾O you who have believed, do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying﴿ Chapter of Women.

③The third stage has been complete prohibition of it. God says ﴾O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but abomination from the work of Devil, so avoid it that you may be successful﴿ Chapter of the Table. Verse NO 90

●Abu Saᶦid AL-Khudri reported: I heard Allah’s Messenger addressing in AL-Madinah. He said, “O people, Allah is giving an indication (of the prohibition) of wine, and He is probably soon going to give an order about it. So he who has anything of it with him should sell that, and benefit from it.” 

We waited for some time that Allah’s Apostle said: “Verily Allah, the Exalted, has forbidden wine. So, who hears this verse and he has anything of it with him, he should neither drink it nor sell it.”

People then brought whatever they had of it with them on the streets of AL-Madinah and split that. [Muslim]. 

 

Wine and all intoxicants have been prohibited in the second Islamic year after the Battle of Uhud.

If he, who is commanded, committed to provisions, aware of their prohibition, and not coerced, drinks wine or any other intoxicant, he will be lashed with eighty lashes.

●AL-Saᶦib ibn Yazeed reported: We used to strike the drinker with our hands, shoes, and clothes (by twisting them into the shape of lashes) during the lifetime of the Prophet, Abu-Bakr, and the early part of ᶦUmar’s caliphate.
But during the last period of ᶦUmar’s caliphate, he used to give the drunken forty lashes, and when the drinkers became mischievous and disobedient, he used to lash them with eighty lashes. [AL-Bukhari].

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□If a large amount of a drink causes intoxication, a small amount of it is prohibited. So, beer is included in prohibition.

Prohibition includes wine maker, seller, the one who conveys it, the one to whom it is conveyed, and the one who sits with drinkers during drinking, even if he does not drink with them.

●It was narrated from Abd Allah ibn ᶦUmar (May Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet said, “Allah has cursed wine, its drinker, its server, its seller, its buyer, its presser, the one for whom it is pressed, the one who conveys it, and the one to whom it is conveyed.” [Abu-Daoud].

●ᶦAishah (May Allah be pleased with her) reported: The Messenger of Allah was asked about mead (which is made from honey) and he said: “Every drink that intoxicates is unlawful.” [AL-Bukhari].

●It was narrated from Ibn ᶦUmar that the Prophet said, “Every intoxicant is wine (Khamr), and every wine is prohibited.” [The Two Scholars].

●It was narrated from Jabir that the Messenger of Allah (P.P.B.U.H) said, “Every intoxicant is prohibited. Verily Allah made a covenant to those who drank intoxicants to make their drink from Tinat AL-Khabaal.” They said, “O Messenger of Allah, what is Tinat AL-Khabaal?” He said, “It is the sweat of the people of Hell or the discharge of the people of Hell.” [Muslim].

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Procedure of fixed penalty application

1) A drinker is lashed after his awakening.

2) His clothes are not taken off if they are light weight.

3) Flogging should be consecutive.

4) Flogging is distributed on his body, except his face.

5) He should not be scorned, but he should be given a chance to repent.

6) Penalty should be applied according to a clear evidence, like testimony of two witnesses, or confession of the drinker.

7) It is not required to flog him with a whip, indeed he can be flogged with hands, foot wear, or palm branches.

8) Penalty should be applied publicly in daylight in front of people.

●Abu-Hurairah reported: A drunken was brought to the Prophet. He said, “Give him a beating.” Then, some beat him with hands, some with their shoes, and some with (a folded) piece of cloth. When he left, someone said to him: “May Allah disgrace you!”

The Prophet said, “Do not say so. Do not help the Devil against him.” [AL-Bukhari].

¨Although ᶦUmar was a drunken and addicted to wine in pre-Islamic ignorance period, after embracing Islam, he invoked Allah urgently and said, “O Allah, reveal to us a conclusive declaration concerning wine.” Prohibition of wine has been one of the things in which the Holy Qurᶦan coincides with ᶦUmar ibn AL-Khattab’s opinions and suggestions.

¨ᶦUthmaan ibn ᶦAfaan said, “Avoid wine, as it is the mother of all evils. There was a man, among those who came before you, who was a devoted worshipper. An immoral woman fell in love with him. She invited him to her palace and threatened him that if he did not have sexual intercourse with her, she would cry out, but he refused. So, she gave him three choices:

□Having a sexual intercourse with her.                     

□Drinking wine.                

□Killing a boy.

He chose to drink wine as he thought it was the easiest thing. After he had drunk it, he lost his mind, so he had sexual intercourse with her and killed the boy.”

¨A group of people were brought to ᶦUmar ibn Abd-AL Azeez, among them there was a righteous man who had not drunk with them.

ᶦUmar said, “Start (applying fixed penalty) to him. Didn’t you hear God’s saying ﴾And it has already come down to you in the Book that when you hear the verses of Allah [recited], they are denied [by them] and ridiculed; so do not sit with them until they enter into another conversation. Indeed, you would then be like them. Indeed Allah will gather the hypocrites and disbelievers in Hell all together﴿” Chapter of Women. Verse NO 140

   

Fixed penalty of Adultery and Slander

FIXED PENALTY OF ADULTERY

Adultery is one of the great sins, so warning of falling into it is very strong.

God says ﴾And do not approach adultery [unlawful sexual intercourse]. Indeed, it is ever an immorality and is evil as a way﴿ Chapter of the Night Journey. Verse NO 32

●Sumurah ibn Jundub reported: One morning, the Prophet said to us, “Last night I had a vision in which two men (angels) came to me, woke me up, and said to me: ‘Proceed.’ I set out with them and came across something like a Tannur (a kind of baking oven, a pit usually clay-lined for baking bread), in which there was much noise and voices.
We looked into it and found naked men and women and a flame of fire was reaching to them from underneath, and when it reached them they cried loudly.
I asked, ‘Who are these?’ They said, ‘They are the adulterers and the adulteresses.’”

 ●It was narrated from Sahl ibn Saᶦd that the Messenger of Allah (P.P.B.U.H) said, “Whoever can guarantee (the chastity of) what is between his jaws and what is between his legs (i.e. his tongue and his private parts), I shall guarantee Paradise for him.” [AL-Bukhari].

Adulterers and adulteresses are of two types:

①Chaste (married):

Their fixed penalty is stoning to death with medium stones (not small).
Their hands are tied and put, to the half of their bodies, into a dig. Then, they are stoned on their head.

●Abu-Hurairah reported: A Muslim man came to the Prophet while he was in the mosque, and called him saying, “O Messenger of Allah, I have committed adultery.” The Messenger of Allah 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 again turned his face away from him, but the man repeated his statement four times.
The Messenger called him saying, “Are you mad?” He said: “No.” He (again) said: “Are you married?” He said: “Yes.” Thereupon Allah’s Messenger said, “Take him away and stone him.” [Muslim].

●Abdullah ibn Buraidah reported: A woman of Ghamid came to the Prophet and said, “I have committed adultery and I want you to purify me.” He turned her away. On the next day, she came to him again, and said, “I swear by Allah, I am pregnant.” He said to her: “Go back until you give birth to a child.” 
When she gave birth to a child, she brought it to him and said, “Here it is! I have given birth to it.” He said: “Go back and suckle him until you wean him.” 
When she had weaned him, she brought him (the boy) to him with a piece of bread in his hand which he was eating.
The boy was then given to a certain man of the Muslims and he (the Prophet) commanded regarding her. So, a pit was dug for her, he ordered people to stone her to death.

Khalid ibn AL-Waleed was one of those who were throwing stones at her. 

When he threw a stone at her, a drop of blood fell on his cheeks and he abused her. 

The Prophet said to him: “Gently, Khalid. By Him in Whose hand my soul is, she has made such a repentance that even if a wrongful tax-collector were to repent, he would have been forgiven.” Then giving command regarding her, he prayed over her and she was buried.

[Sahih Muslim]

②Unchaste (unmarried):

Their fixed penalty is one hundred lashes and then banishment for one year to a country that is 84 kms from their country.
If the adulterer was a female, she should go there with an unmaritable relation. The banishment year should be continuous and is calculated from the beginning of his or her travel.
Upon flogging, clothes are not taken off and it is applied using anything like any foot-wear or sticks.
Fixed penalty of adultery is also applied to the one who commits sodomy (homosexuality) and to the one who commits adultery with animals and the animal is burned after its slaughter.

God says ﴾The [unmarried] woman or [unmarried] man found guilty of adultery- lash each of them with a hundred lashes, and do not be taken by pity for them in the religion of Allah, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. And let a group of the believers witness their punishment﴿ Chapter of Light. Verse NO 2
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                        FIXED PENALTY of SLANDER

Slander: is accusing someone of adultery.

Fixed penalty of slander has been legislated in order to protect inviolability and honour of people and safeguard society.
If someone slandered another one, fixed penalty of slander would be applied to the slanderer, i.e., lashed with eighty lashes. God says ﴾And those who accuse chaste women and do not produce four witnesses- lash them with eighty lashes and do not accept from them testimony ever after. And those are the rebellious﴿ Chapter of Light. Verse NO 4

●Abu-Dhar reported that he heard the Prophet saying, “If a man accuses another man of transgression or accuses him of disbelief, that accusation will come back on him if his companion is not as he said.” [AL-Bukhari].

A slanderer, to whom fixed penalty of slander is applied, must be:

adult, rational, not the slandered’s father, and not the slandered’s mother.

A slandered, for whom fixed penalty of slander is applied, must be:

a rational, adult Muslim, and not an adulterer.

Situations of fixed penalty application cancelling:

1) When the slandered waives the penalty application.

2) When there is a clear evidence of the slander truth (The evidence should be: presence of four witnesses, or the slandered’s confession).

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INVOKING CURSE (Liᶦan)

It occurs between two spouses only. It has been legislated in the ninth Islamic year as a solution to a serious problem that appeared after legislation of slander fixed penalty.

Its procedure:

□The husband says in front of the judge: “I call God to witness that I am truthful in what I have slandered my wife [saying her name] concerning adultery.” (Four times). Then, he says in the fifth time, “The curse of Allah be upon me if I should be among the liars.”

□Then, his wife replies, “I call God to witness that my husband [saying his name] is a liar in what he has slandered me concerning adultery.” (Four times). In the fifth time she says, “The wrath of Allah be upon me if he was of the truthful.”

□At the end of invoking curse, divorce takes place, because of impossibility of their living together after this scandal. But, this does not cancel the blood relationship of their children to them.

●Ibn ᶦAbbas reported: Hilal ibn ᶦUmaiyah accused his wife, in front of the Prophet, of committing illegal sexual intercourse with Shareek ibn Sahmaᶦ. 
The Prophet said, “Either you produce a proof, or you will get the legal punishment (by being lashed) on your back.” Hilal said, “O Allah’s Apostle! If anyone of us saw another man over his wife, would he go to search for a proof?!” 
The Prophet kept on saying: “Either you produce a proof, or you will get the legal punishment (by being lashed) on your back.” Hilal then said, “By Him Who sent you with the Truth, I am telling the truth and Allah will reveal to you what will save my back from legal punishment.”
Then Gabriel came down and revealed to him ﴾And for those who accuse their wives, but have no witnesses except themselves, let the testimony of one of them be four testimonies by Allah that he is one of the truthful (6) And the fifth [testimony will be] that the curse of Allah be upon him if he should be among the liars (7) But it will prevent punishment from her if she gives four testimonies [swearing] by Allah that indeed, he is of the liars (8) And the fifth [testimony will be] that the wrath of Allah be upon her if he was of the truthful (9)﴿ Chapter of Light.    [AL-Bukhari].

●Saᶦid ibn Jubair reported: A man said, “O Messenger of Allah, tell me if one of us finds his wife committing adultery, what should he do? If he talks, that is something great, and if he keeps quiet, that is also (something great) (which he cannot afford to do it). Allah’s Prophet kept quiet and did not answer him. 
Afterwards he (that very person) came to him and said, “I have been tried by what I asked you about.” So, Allah, Almighty and Sublime, revealed these verses (verses from 6 to 9 of Chapter of Light). 
So he called for the man, recited the verses to him, admonished him, reminded him, and told him: “Indeed the punishment of this world is less than the punishment of the Hereafter.” So he said, “No! By the One Who sent you with the Truth! I did not lie about her.” 
Then he (the Prophet) did the same with the woman, admonishing her, and reminding her and he told her: “Indeed the punishment of this world is less than the punishment of the Hereafter.” She said, “No! By the One Who sent you with the Truth! He is not telling the truth.” 
So, he started with the man: He testified four times, by Allah that he is one of the truthful, and the fifth time that the curse of Allah be upon him if he was one of the liars. Then the same with the woman: She testified four times by Allah, that he was one of the liars, and the fifth time that the wrath of Allah be upon her if he was one of the truthful. Then he separated the two of them. [Muslim].