Fixed penalties (hudud)

Hudud (sing. hadd) means a barrier in the lexicon, and in law a fixed penalty owed as God's right; the Shafi'is and Hanbalis define it as a fixed penalty for an offence that is a right of God, or in which the right of God and of the person are joined, as in slander. ¹ It differs from retaliation (qisas), which is the person's right, and from discretionary punishment (ta'zir), which is not fixed. ² Enforcing the fixed penalties is a duty of the ruler on the authority of the Qur'an, the Sunna and consensus, and the reason given is that human appetite leans toward forbidden acts, so these penalties deter and cut off corruption. ^{2 3} Fixed penalties differ from retaliation in that they are not inherited, cannot be pardoned, do not depend on a claim, may be recanted, and may not be interceded for once they reach the judge. ^{4 5} Two penalties of one kind merge, but a new offence is punished anew. ⁵ Penalties are averted by doubt; a confession is withdrawn except in slander; and the stoning is not carried out if the witnesses are dead, for those who require the witnesses to begin. ^{6 7 8} Four witnesses are required for fornication by the majority, the penalty is applied only to a sane adult, and only by the ruler or his deputy. ^{8 9 10 11} Repentance removes the penalty for highway robbery and apostasy before capture; for others the views differ. ⁶

The lash is a supple whip without knots, and the blows are spread over the body except the head, face, private parts, chest, belly and the place of death; not more than one or two strokes are given a day. ¹² The man is stripped to his waist-cloth by the Hanafis and Malikis but not by the Shafi'is and Hanbalis; a man is flogged standing and a woman sitting. ^{12 13} The severest flogging is for fornication, then slander, then drinking. ¹³ A thief's right hand is cut at the wrist, and not in severe heat or cold. ¹³ For those who hold it, a virgin fornicator is exiled for a full year to the distance that shortens prayer. ¹³ Penalties are applied in public before a group of believers. ¹³ The victim of the penalty is prayed over by the majority if he dies from stoning; a convicted slanderer's testimony is barred for ever in the Hanafi view. ^{13 14}

He holds that whoever rejects one of God's hudud has rejected all of them, and that whoever breaks one verse of the Book has broken the whole Book. ¹⁵ He says that one who accepts some parts of the Book and rejects others has contradicted belief in the Book. ¹⁶ He says the question of the hudud must be read in light of how people live today, though his wording on this is not clear in the recording (needs_source). ¹⁷

The speaker discusses the hadd for highway robbery (hiraba), the hadd for drinking wine and the hadd for unlawful sex, and ties their application to the state; he says the state cannot do everything in this matter (needs_source: the transcript is garbled; re-listening is needed before attributing any single phrase) ^{19 18 20}.

The Sheikh presents the chapter on the prescribed penalties (hudud) as the law for those who leave God's method, given to regulate human life ²⁴. The presenter asks about the severity of the penalties, such as stoning, flogging and amputation, and whether they can regulate life; these questions belong to the presenter, not to the Sheikh ^{25 26}.

The Sheikh holds that carrying out one legal penalty on earth benefits the community more than a long spell of rain, and he illustrates this with a salary stolen from a man on his way home ²¹. He distinguishes a petty thief from one who takes public funds or accepts bribes, and recounts an anecdote about al-Hasan al-Basri and a governor (needs_source: the details of the anecdote) ²⁷.

He says that retribution preserves life, because a would-be killer who knows he will be retaliated against is deterred, and a would-be thief who knows his hand will be cut is restrained ²². He gives the saying that whoever feels safe from punishment does not do good ²⁸.

The Sheikh holds that the climate and the environment must be prepared before penalties are applied, and that people must understand the law before it is enforced; he notes that some critics object on grounds related to human rights (needs_source) ²³. He cites the cases of Ma'iz and the Ghamidi woman, who confessed before the Prophet ﷺ and then had the penalty applied to them ²⁹.