Glossary of the ḥadith:
– Khamr (wine/intoxicant): the well-known beverage. The word may be treated as masculine or feminine in Arabic—one may say huwa al-khamr or hiya al-khamr. When a tāʾ is added (khamrah), it denotes a single portion of wine. Its plural is khumur, on the pattern of fals / fulūs. Lexically it refers to every substance that intoxicates and veils the intellect; its root derives from mukhāmarah (mixing or covering), because it mixes with the mind and conceals it. All derivatives of the root kh-m-r revolve around the sense of covering.

Points derived from the ḥadith:

1. The report indicates that the wine-drinker is subjected to the prescribed punishment three times; if he drinks a fourth time and the repeated flogging has not deterred him, he is to be put to death on that fourth occasion.
2. This is the position of the Ẓāhirī school. Ibn Ḥazm championed it, defended it vigorously, and marshalled evidence in its favor.
3. Al-Khaṭṭābī, however, held that the command may be intended as a threat, not for actual implementation, its purpose being deterrence and warning.
4. The majority of scholars—including the four imams—maintain that the death penalty on the fourth offence is abrogated, and consensus on this has been reported.
   Al-Tirmidhī said: “No difference of opinion is known—past or present—regarding the non-execution.”
   Al-Shāfiʿī stated: “The order to kill has been abrogated by the ḥadith of Qabīṣah ibn Ḏuʾayb, wherein the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Whoever drinks wine, flog him; if he returns a third or a fourth time, kill him.’ A man was then brought for drinking: he flogged him; he was brought again and he flogged him; then a third time, and a fourth, and a fifth, and the killing was set aside—this became a concession.” [Narrated by Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī.]
   Al-Mundhirī transmitted from some scholars that the Muslims have unanimously agreed on the obligation of the ḥadd