and in the same way fighting armed rebels. This, too, is a form of taʿzīr (discretionary punishment) that is not capped; it can extend to execution, just as one may lawfully repel an assailant who tries to seize one’s wealth—even if that means killing him. There is further discussion on this point.

Another narration from Imām Aḥmad holds that every sin whose fixed ḥadd resembles it may be punished with something comparable, yet the taʿzīr must not reach the full ḥadd. Thus, if a man commits fornication with a slave-girl in whom he owns a share, he is flogged one hundred lashes minus one.

Abū Ḥanīfah and al-Shāfiʿī maintain that taʿzīr must never equal the fixed limits.

Some scholars interpret the Prophet’s words “except in one of the limits of Allah” to mean that Allah’s “limits” are His commands and prohibitions. Accordingly, so long as the taʿzīr is imposed for a sin—whether the neglect of an obligation or the commission of a forbidden act—the ruler may raise the punishment to whatever level he judges sufficient to deter and prevent its repetition.

The appropriate measure varies with place and time, with the individual, and with the particular sin. In some eras or locales the ruler may lighten or intensify the penalty for the disobedient. People, too, differ: some are deterred by mere rebuke; others require beating and flogging; others, imprisonment; and still others, the confiscation of property.

Those of respectable standing whose lapses are rare should be excused, whereas brazen, defiant offenders should be dealt with harshly.

Because sins differ in gravity, the judge must weigh circumstances, conditions, and surrounding factors so that he acts with insight and his disciplinary measures achieve their aim. The matter lies in the judge’s discretion: the punishment may involve taking wealth, or it may go as far as killing.

All these penalties have roots in the Sacred Law. Consider the words of the scholars on this matter. Imām Aḥmad—may Allah have mercy on him—said concerning one who drinks wine during the daytime in Ramadan, or does something similar: “Let the prescribed penalty be carried out upon him, and let it be intensified against him, like the one who is killed in…"