Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (14/293)

Chapter: The Prescribed Punishment for Intoxicants

His statement, “the prescribed punishment for intoxicants,” means the punishment for consuming intoxicants. This indicates that the punishment for one who becomes intoxicated is a fixed legal punishment, which may neither be exceeded nor reduced, for none of the fixed punishments that the Lawgiver has prescribed for crimes may be increased or decreased. This is the well-known position of Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him; indeed, it is the well-known position of the four legal schools.

The evidence for this is that Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, set it at eighty lashes, while Abu Bakr administered forty lashes during his caliphate (1). Abu Bakr and Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, have a sunnah that is to be followed, for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “You must adhere to my sunnah and the sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs after me” (2). They were foremost among the rightly guided caliphs after the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. Accordingly, they have a sunnah that must be followed, by the explicit wording of the Prophet’s hadith.

But is the punishment forty or eighty lashes? Or are forty lashes obligatory, while anything between forty and eighty is left to the ruler’s discretion—such that, if people become more frequent in committing it, he raises it to eighty, but if they commit it less frequently, he does not exceed forty? There is also disagreement on this point.

(1) Reported by Muslim in al-Hudud (Legal Punishments), chapter: “The Prescribed Punishment for Wine Drinking” (1707), on the authority of Ali. It was also reported by al-Bukhari in al-Hudud, chapter: “What Has Been Reported Regarding Striking the Wine Drinker” (6773), but he did not mention that Umar set the punishment at eighty lashes. (2) Its source has been cited previously on p. 263.

بَابُ حَدِّ المُسْكِرِ قوله: «حد المسكر» أي: عقوبة المسكر، وعلم من ذلك أن عقوبة السكران حدٌّ، لا يُتَجَاوز ولا يُنقص؛ لأن جميع الحدود التي رتبها الشارع على الجرائم لا تزاد ولا تنقص، وهذا هو المشهور من مذهب الإمام أحمد ﵀، بل المشهور من المذاهب الأربعة. ودليل ذلك أن عمر بن الخطاب ﵁ قدرها بثمانين، وأن أبا بكر ضرب في عهده أربعين (١)، وأبو بكر وعمر ﵄ لهما سُنَّة متبعةٌ، لقول النبي ﷺ: «عليكم بسنتي وسنة الخلفاء الراشدين المهديين من بعدي» (٢)، وهما في قمة الخلفاء الراشدين المهديين من بعد الرسول ﷺ، وعلى هذا فيكون لهما سنة واجبة الاتباع بنص الحديث عن الرسول ﷺ، ولكن هل هي أربعون، أو ثمانون، أو أربعون وجوباً، وما بين الأربعين إلى الثمانين راجع إلى نظر الإمام، فإن أكْثَرَ الناسُ منها بلغ الثمانين، وإن أقلوا لم يتجاوز الأربعين؟ في هذا ـ أيضاً ـ خلاف.

(١) أخرجه مسلم في الحدود/ باب حد الخمر (١٧٠٧)، عن علي ﵁، والحديث أخرجه البخاري في الحدود/ باب ما جاء في ضرب شارب الخمر (٦٧٧٣) ولم يذكر فيه أن عمر ﵁ قدرها بثمانين. (٢) سبق تخريجه ص (٢٦٣).