—a light beating that neither bruises nor causes real pain, deliberately avoiding sensitive areas and noble parts of the body, such as the face, and never exceeding ten lashes. These are the very people the ḥadith is addressing, according to the soundest view of the scholars concerning its meaning.
3 – The outward sense of the ḥadith is that exceeding ten lashes is prohibited, for the Prophet’s wording comes in the form of a negation that, by default, conveys prohibition.
4 – The phrase “the limits (ḥudūd) of Allah, Exalted is He,” may refer to fixed punishments—such as those for adultery and false accusation—or to punishments whose amounts are not fixed, like the penalty for breaking the fast in Ramadan, withholding zakat, and other offenses involving the commission of a forbidden act or the neglect of an obligation.
5 – In his ﷺ statement, “No one is to be flogged more than ten lashes except in one of the limits of Allah,” the intent is sin. The ceiling of ten lashes applies to disciplining a minor, a wife, a servant, and the like, so long as the matter is not itself a sin.
Scholarly disagreement
The scholars have differed over the meaning of the clause “except in one of the limits of Allah.” Some hold that “limits” refers exclusively to those offenses whose punishments have been fixed by the Law—such as the ḥadd for adultery, for slander, for theft, and retribution for homicide or lesser bodily harm.
Accordingly, every other sin would fall under taʿzīr (discretionary punishment), whose maximum is ten lashes or fewer. This is the well-known position of Imām Aḥmad, although the Ḥanbalī jurists intend this capped taʿzīr for someone who has already committed the sin.
As for one who persists in it, he may be disciplined until he desists. Thus Shaykh al-Islām said, “Those of our companions who set an upper limit for taʿzīr did so only when the disciplining concerns a past action or omission. If, however, the taʿzīr is to stop him from what he is presently engaged in, it takes the same ruling as killing an apostate or a combatant enemy.”