and to Abū ʿUbaydah in Syria,” as related by al-Dāraqutnī and others.

This took place in the presence of the Emigrants and Helpers—may Allah be pleased with them all—and none of them objected.

Imām Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said, “The correct view is that ʿUmar set the ḥadd for wine at the same level as the ḥadd for false accusation, and the Companions approved it.”

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) stated, “The prescribed penalty for drinking is established by the Sunnah and the consensus of the Muslims at forty lashes. The ruler may increase it when people become habitual drinkers and are not deterred by forty.”

He also said, “The sound position is that raising the penalty from forty up to eighty is neither absolutely obligatory nor absolutely forbidden; rather, it is left to the discretion of the ruler, just as we allow him discretion in the manner of administering the lashes.”

The ḥadd for wine is proven either by the drinker’s own confession or by the testimony of two upright witnesses.

Scholars have differed over whether the ḥadd applies to one in whose breath the odor of wine is detected. There are two opinions: one holds that he is not subject to the ḥadd but should receive a discretionary punishment (taʿzīr); the other maintains that the ḥadd is carried out so long as he cannot present a plausible excuse. This latter view is narrated from Aḥmad, adopted by Mālik, and chosen by Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him).