Book of Ḥudūd (Fixed Prescribed Punishments)
Chapter on the Ḥadd for the Fornicator

The term ḥudūd is the plural of ḥadd. Linguistically it denotes a preventive boundary, a barrier between two things that keeps them from mingling.

In the Sharʿī sense it refers to punishments whose purpose is to deter people from committing the same sin for which they were legislated. The phrase “the limits of Allah” occurs in the Qur’an and Sunnah with three distinct meanings:

1. The very prohibitions that Allah has forbidden—such as zinā (unlawful sexual intercourse). The Noble Qur’an speaks of them, saying: “These are the limits set by Allah, so do not approach them” (Q 2:187). Thus He forbade the acts themselves and the means that lead to them.

2. The limits that Allah has forbidden people to overstep, namely the entire range of things He has permitted—whether they are obligatory, recommended, or merely permissible. To overstep them is to exceed what is allowed. Concerning this the Qur’an says: “These are the limits set by Allah, so do not transgress them” (Q 2:229).

   This verse addresses anyone who goes beyond what Allah has allowed in either keeping his wife honorably or releasing her with kindness. If he keeps her without proper conduct or releases her without kindness, he has moved from what Allah has permitted to what He has forbidden.

3. The expression may also denote the fixed, deterrent punishments prescribed for the prohibitions; thus one says: the ḥadd