1079 – Muʿāwiyah – may Allah be pleased with him – reported that the Prophet ﷺ said about the wine-drinker: “When he drinks, flog him. If he drinks again, flog him. If he drinks a third time, flog him. If he drinks a fourth time, strike his neck.” It was recorded by Aḥmad – this is his exact wording – and by the four Sunan compilers. Al-Tirmidhī cited evidence that the ruling was later abrogated, and Abū Dāwūd transmitted that explicitly from al-Zuhrī.⦗1⦘

Degree of authenticity:
The ḥadīth is ḥasan (good).

The Muʿāwiyah version was also transmitted by al-Shāfiʿī, al-Dāramī, Ibn al-Munḏir, and Ibn Ḥibbān. Ibn Abī Shaybah and Abū Dāwūd narrated it through the chain of Ibn ʿUmar; al-Nasāʾī narrated it from Jābir; al-Shāfiʿī likewise narrated it from Qabīṣah ibn Ḏuʾayb; al-Tirmidhī reported it in a suspended form; and al-Khaṭīb related it from Ibn Isḥāq, from al-Zuhrī, from Qabīṣah. Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah said, “Al-Zuhrī narrated this,” and al-Bukhārī remarked, “This is the most authentic report in this chapter.”

The compiler adds: Al-Tirmidhī supplied what indicates that it is abrogated, and Abū Dāwūd transmitted that explicitly from al-Zuhrī.

The ḥadīth was judged authentic by Ibn Ḥazm in al-Muḥallā and by Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī in al-Muḥarrar, who said, “Its transmitters are trustworthy.”