wearing three light shirts that do not prevent the blows from reaching him; if so, we leave them on. What matters is that the pain of the blows reaches his body.

“He should not be beaten so severely that it splits the skin. The blows should be distributed over his body, while the head, face, private parts, and vital areas are to be avoided, …”

His words, “He should not be beaten so severely that it splits the skin”: excessive severity is of two types:

First: severity that splits the skin. This is unlawful, because the objective is not to wound the man or tear his skin; rather, the objective is for him to feel the pain on his skin so that he may be disciplined.

Second: severity that does not split the skin. There is nothing wrong with this; indeed, as will come—if Allah Most High wills—it is obligatory.

His words, “The blows should be distributed over his body”: this too is among the proper manners of carrying out a prescribed punishment: the blows should be distributed over his body, for two reasons:

First, if they are confined to one place, the pain will be restricted to that spot, while the rest of the body remains unaffected.

Second, if the blows are delivered to one spot, that area will suffer intense pain; the blood may become damaged there, and it may later become wounded. Therefore, we say: distribute the blows over the back, shoulders, thighs, shins, and feet, as appropriate. As for confining them to one place, this is contrary to the proper manners of carrying out a prescribed punishment. Yet there are places upon which the prescribed punishment must not be carried out. He said:

“The head, face, private parts, and vital areas are to be avoided.” These are four things. “Avoided” means shunned. Thus, the face is to be avoided, because the Prophet ﷺ forbade striking the face (1), and he forbade disparaging the face (2); because Allah Most High created Adam in His image.