Prescribed Punishments (Kitab Al-Hudud)

'Abd al-Rahman b. Muhariz said: We asked Fadalah b. 'Ubaid about the hanging the (amputated) hand on the neck of a thief whether it was a sunnan. He said: A thief was brought to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and his hand was cut off. Thereafter he commanded for it, and it was hung on his neck.

Narrated AbuHurayrah: The Prophet (ﷺ) as saying: When a slave steals, sell him, even though it be for half an uqiyah.

Ibn ‘Abbas said: The Qur’anic verse goes: “If any of your woman are guilty of lewdness, take the evidence of four (reliable) witnesses from amongst you against them, and if they testify, Confine them to houses until death do chain them or Allah ordains for them some (other) way. Allah then mentioned man after woman and combined them in another verse : “If two men among you are guilty of lewdness, punish them both. If they repent and amend, leave them alone. This command was abrogated by the verse relating to flogging : “The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication – flog each of them with one hundred stripes.

Mujahid said: “Apponting a way in the verse (iv.15) means prescribed punishment.Sufiyan said: “Punish them “refers to unmarried, and “confine them to houses” refers to the women who are married.

‘Ubadah b. al-Samit reported the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) as sayings: Receive my teachings, receive my teachings. Allah has appointed a way for those women. If the parties have been married, they shall receive a hundred lashes and stoned to death. If the parties are unmarried, they shall receive a hundred lashes and banished for a year.

A similar tradition has been transmitted by al-Hasan through a chain of Yahya and to the same effect. This version adds: They shall receive a hundred lashes and toned to death.

Narrated Ubadah ibn as-Samit: The tradition mentioned above (No. 4401) has also been transmitted by Ubadah ibn as-Samit through a different chain of narrators. This version has: The people said to Sa'd ibn Ubadah: AbuThabit, the prescribed punishments have been revealed: if you find a man with your wife, what will you do? He said: I shall strike them with a sword so much that they become silent (i.e. die). Should I go and gather four witnesses? Until that (time) the need would be fulfilled. So they went away and gathered with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said: Messenger of Allah! did you not see AbuThabit. He said so-and-so. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The sword is a sufficient witness. He then said: No, no, a furious and a jealous man may follow this course.Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been transmitted by Waki' from al-Fadl b. Dilham from al-Hasan, from Qabisah b. Huraith, from Salamah b. al-Muhabbaq, from the Prophet (ﷺ). And this is the chain of the tradition narrated by Ibn al-Muhabbaq to the effect that a man had sexual intercourse with a slave girl of his wife.Abu Dawud said: Al-Fadl b. Dilham was not the memoriser of traditions. He was a butcher in Wasit.

‘Abd Allah b. ‘Abbas said: ‘Umar b. al-Khattab gave an address saying: Allah sent Muhammad (ﷺ) with truth and sent down the Books of him, and the verse of stoning was included in what He sent down to him. We read it and memorized it. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) had people stoned to death and we have done it also since his death. I am afraid the people might say with the passage of time: We do not find the verse of stoning in the Books of Allah, and thus they stray by abandoning a duty which Allah had received. Stoning is a duty laid down (by Allah) for married men and women who commit fornication when proof is established, or if there is pregnancy, or a confession. I swear by Allah, had it not been so that the people might say: ‘Umar made an addition to Allah’s Book, I would have written it (there).

Narrated Nu'aym ibn Huzzal: Yazid ibn Nu'aym ibn Huzzal, on his father's authority said: Ma'iz ibn Malik was an orphan under the protection of my father. He had illegal sexual intercourse with a slave-girl belonging to a clan. My father said to him: Go to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and inform him of what you have done, for he may perhaps ask Allah for your forgiveness. His purpose in that was simply a hope that it might be a way of escape for him. So he went to him and said: Messenger of Allah! I have committed fornication, so inflict on me the punishment ordained by Allah. He (the Prophet) turned away from him, so he came back and said: Messenger of Allah! I have committed fornication, so inflict on me the punishment ordained by Allah. He (again) turned away from him, so he came back and said: Messenger of Allah! I have committed fornication, so inflict on me the punishment ordained by Allah. When he uttered it four times, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: You have said it four times. With whom did you commit it? He replied: With so and so. He asked: Did you lie down with her? He replied: Yes. He asked: Had your skin been in contact with hers? He replied. Yes. He asked: Did you have intercourse with her? He said: Yes. So he (the Prophet) gave orders that he should be stoned to death. He was then taken out to the Harrah, and while he was being stoned he felt the effect of the stones and could not bear it and fled. But Abdullah ibn Unays encountered him when those who had been stoning him could not catch up with him. He threw the bone of a camel's foreleg at him, which hit him and killed him. They then went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and reported it to him. He said: Why did you not leave him alone. Perhaps he might have repented and been forgiven by Allah.

Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah: Muhammad ibn Ishaq said: I mentioned the story of Ma'iz ibn Malik to Asim ibn Umar ibn Qatadah. He said to me: Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn AbuTalib said to me: Some men of the tribe of Aslam whom I do not blame and whom you like have transmitted to me the saying of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): Why did you not leave him alone? He said: But I did not understand this tradition. So I went to Jabir ibn Abdullah and said (to him): Some men of the tribe of Aslam narrate that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said when they mentioned to him the anxiety of Ma'iz when the stones hurt him: "Why did you not leave him alone?' But I do not know this tradition. He said: My cousin, I know this tradition more than the people. I was one of those who had stoned the man. When we came out with him, stoned him and he felt the effect of the stones, he cried: O people! return me to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). My people killed me and deceived me; they told me that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) would not kill me. We did not keep away from him till we killed him. When we returned to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) we informed him of it. He said: Why did you not leave him alone and bring him to me? and he said this so that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) might ascertain it from him. But he did not say this to abandon the prescribed punishment. He said: I then understood the intent of the tradition.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: Ma'iz ibn Malik came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said that he had committed fornication and he (the Prophet) turned away from him. He repeated it many times, but he (the Prophet) turned away from him. He asked his people: Is he mad? They replied: There is no defect in him. He asked: Have you done it with her? He replied: Yes. so he ordered that he should be stoned to death. He was taken out and stoned to death, and he (the Prophet) did not pray over him.

Jabir b. Samurah said: I saw Ma’iz b. Malik when he was brought to the Prophet (ﷺ). He was a small and muscular man. He did not wear the loose outer garment. He made confession about him four times that he committed fornication. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Perhaps you kissed her. He said that this most discarded man has committed fornication. He said: So he had him stoned to death and gave an address, saying: Beware, whenever we go out on an expedition in the path of Allah, one of them (I.e. the people) lags behind with a bleating sound like that of a he-goat, and gives modicum of his milk(i.e. sperm) to one of the women. If Allah gives control over any of them, I shall deter him from them (i.e. women) by punishing him severely.

Simak said: I heard this tradition from Jabir b. Samurah. But the first version is more perfect. This version has: He repeated twice, Simak said: I narrated to Sa’id b. Jubair. He said: He repeated it four times.

Shu’bah said: I asked Simak about the meaning of KUTHBAH. He said: A small quantity of milk.

Ibn ‘Abbas said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) asked Ma’iz b. Malik : Is what I have heard about you is true? He said: What have you heard about me? He said: I have heard that you have had intercourse with a girl belonging to the family of so and so. He said: Yes. He then testified four times. He (The prophet) then gave order regarding him and he was stoned to death.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: Ma'iz ibn Malik came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and admitted fornication twice. But he drove him away. He then came and admitted fornication twice. But he drove him away. He then came and admitted fornication twice. He (the Prophet) said: You have testified to yourself four times. Take him away and stone him to death.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: The Prophet (ﷺ) said to Ma'iz ibn Malik: Perhaps you kissed, or squeezed, or looked. He said: No. He then said: Did you have intercourse with her? He said: Yes. On the (reply) he (the Prophet) gave order that he should be stoned to death. The narrator did not mention "on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas". This is Wahb's version.

Narrated AbuHurayrah: A man of the tribe of Aslam came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and testified four times against himself that he had had illicit intercourse with a woman, while all the time the Prophet (ﷺ) was turning away from him. Then when he confessed a fifth time, he turned round and asked: Did you have intercourse with her? He replied: Yes. He asked: Have you done it so that your sexual organ penetrated hers? He replied: Yes. He asked: Have you done it like a collyrium stick when enclosed in its case and a rope in a well? He replied: Yes. He asked: Do you know what fornication is? He replied: Yes. I have done with her unlawfully what a man may lawfully do with his wife. He then asked: What do you want from what you have said? He said: I want you to purify me. So he gave orders regarding him and he was stoned to death. Then the Prophet (ﷺ) heard one of his companions saying to another: Look at this man whose fault was concealed by Allah but who would 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 asked: Where are so and so? They said: Here we are, Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)! He said: Go down and eat some of this ass's corpse. They replied: Messenger of Allah! Who can eat any of this? 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 and plunging into them.

A similar tradition has also been transmitted by Abu Hurrairah through a different chain of narrators. This version adds: The narrator Hasan b. “All said: The transmitters have differed in the wordings (of this tradition) reported to me. Some said: He (Ma’iz) was tied to a tree, and others said: He was made to stand.

Jabir b. ‘Abd Allah said: A man of the tribe of Asalam came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and made confession of fornication. He (the prophet) turned away from him. When he testified against him four times, the Prophet (ﷺ) said: Are you mad? He said: No. he asked: Are you married? He replied: Yes. The Prophet (ﷺ) then commanded 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 (ﷺ) then spoke well of him and did not pray over him.

Abu Sa’id said: When the Prophet (May peace e upon him) commanded to stone Ma’iz b. Malik, we took him out to Baql. I swear by Allah, we did not tie him, nor did we dig a pit for him. But he was standing before us. The narrator Abu Kamil said: So we threw at him bones, clods of mud and pieces of earthenware. He ran away and we ran after him till he came to a side of the Harrah. He stood there before us and we threw at him big stones of the Harrah until he died. He (the Prophet) did not ask forgiveness for him, nor did he speak ill of him.

Abu Nadrah said: A man came to Prophet (ﷺ). He then mentioned a similar tradition but not completely. This version has: People began to speak ill of him but he (the Prophet) forbade them. Then they began to ask forgiveness from him, but he forbade them by saying. He is a man who had committed a sin. Allah will call him to account himself.

Buraidah said. : The Prophet (ﷺ) smelt the breath of Ma’iz.

Narrated Buraydah ibn al-Hasib: We, the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), used to talk mutually: Would that al-Ghamidiyyah and Ma'iz ibn Malik had withdrawn after their confession; or he said: Had they not withdrawn after their confession, he would not have pursued them (for punishment). He had them stoned after the fourth (confession).

Narrated Al-Lajlaj al-Amiri: I was working in the market. A woman passed carrying a child. The people rushed towards her, and I also rushed along with them. I then went to the Prophet (ﷺ) while he was asking: Who is the father of this (child) who is with you? She remained silent. A young man by her side said: I am his father, Messenger of Allah! He then turned towards her and asked: Who is the father of this child with you? The young man said: I am his father, Messenger of Allah! The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then looked at some of those who were around him and asked them about him. They said: We only know good (about him). The Prophet (ﷺ) said to him: Are you married? He said: Yes. So he gave orders regarding him and he was stoned to death. He (the narrator) said: We took him out, dug a pit for him and put him in it. We then threw stones at him until he died. A man then came asking about the man who was stoned. We brought him to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: This man has come asking about the wicked man. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: He is more agreeable than the fragrance of musk in the eyes of Allah. The man was his father. We then helped him in washing, shrouding and burying him. (The narrator said:) I do not know whether he said or did not say "in praying over him." This is the tradition of Abdah, and it is more accurate.

A part of tradition has also been transmitted by al-Lajlaj from the Prophet (ﷺ) through a different chain of narrators.

Narrated Sahl ibn Sa'd: A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and confessed before him that he had committed fornication with a woman whom he named. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sent for the woman and asked her about it. But she denied that she had committed fornication. So he inflicted the prescribed punishment of flogging on him, and let her go.

Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah: A man committed fornication with a woman. So the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ordered regarding him and the prescribed punishment of flogging was inflicted on him. He was then informed that he was married. So he commanded regarding him and he was stoned to death.Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been transmitted by Muhammad b. Bakr al-Barsani from Ibn Juraij as a statement of Jabir, and Abu 'Asim has transmitted it from Ibn Juraid similar to that of Ibn Wahb. He did not mention the Prophet (ﷺ). But he said: A man committed fornication, but did not know that he was married ; so he was flogged. It was then known that he was married, so he was stoned to death.

Jabir said: A man committed fornication with a woman. It was not known that he was married. So he was flogged. It was then known that he was married, so he was stoned to death.

Narrated Imran ibn Husayn: A woman belonging to the tribe of Juhaynah (according to the version of Aban) came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said that she had committed fornication and that she was pregnant. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) called her guardian. Then the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to him: Be good to her, and when she bears a child, bring her (to me). When she gave birth to the child, he brought her (to him). The Prophet (ﷺ) gave orders regarding her, and her clothes were tied to her. He then commanded regarding her and she was stoned to death. He commanded the people (to pray) and they prayed over her. Thereupon Umar said: Are you praying over her, Messenger of Allah, when she has committed fornication? He said: By Him in Whose hand my soul is, she has repented to such an extent that if it were divided among the seventy people of Medina, it would have been enough for them all. And what do you find better than the fact that she gave her life. Aban did not say in his version: Then her clothes were tied to her.