kindness and mercy toward them, just as a father seeks to discipline his child and a physician seeks to treat his patient.

3 – For that reason, the ḥadith instructs the one who administers a prescribed punishment or a discretionary chastisement to avoid striking the face, because the face of the children of Adam enjoys special honour and, being delicate, is harmed and distressed even by the lightest blow.

4 – As for ḥadith no. 1081, it indicates that carrying out the prescribed penalties inside the mosques is forbidden.

5 – This is because mosques are to be protected from disruptive clamour, raised voices and any soiling with impurities, and enforcing the ḥudūd inside them is liable to bring about all—or at least some—of those things.

6 – Although the prohibition makes it unlawful to do so, if a ḥadd were in fact executed in a mosque it would still be legally effective and would not need to be repeated, for the prohibition relates to the location, not to the punishment itself, and thus does not invalidate its implementation.