the Sacred Precinct (al-ḥaram); his blood-money is one full diya plus a third.
Abu Yusuf also said, “If one woman commits a sexual act with another, both are to be punished and disciplined.”
He further stated regarding anyone who maligns the Companions, “It is obligatory upon the ruler to punish him; if he repents, so be it, and if not, the punishment is to be repeated.”
The compiler of Shaykh al-Islām’s al-Ikhtiyārāt quotes him at length on this subject; we shall cite only a few passages that clarify his position and illuminate the issue.
He—may Allah have mercy on him—said, “Taʿzīr may consist in attacking a person’s reputation, such as saying to him, ‘You wrongdoer, you aggressor,’ or by making him stand up and leave a gathering.”
He also said, “Financial taʿzīr is permissible, whether by destroying property or by seizing it. This is in line with the fundamental doctrine of [Imām] Aḥmad, for his disciples agree that monetary penalties have not been abrogated in any of their forms.”
As for the statement of Shaykh Abū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī, Ibn Qudāmah—“It is not lawful to take the wealth of the person being disciplined”—it was meant as a rebuke to the oppressive governors who do so unjustly.
He added, “The ruler is entitled to discipline anyone proven to have concealed information he was obliged to disclose, just as he may discipline someone who confesses in vague terms until he clarifies his confession, or one who hides a confession altogether.”
“Taʿzīr,” he continued, “may even be warranted for omitting a recommended deed; for instance, the person who sneezes but does not praise Allah may be disciplined by withholding the invocation of mercy for him.”
He went on: “I issued a fatwa to a commander leading a large army on the frontier: where men were plundering Muslims’ property and could only be restrained by execution, he should kill as many of them as will suffice to deter the rest—even if that means killing ten—for this falls under the heading of repelling an aggressor.”
Ibn al-Qayyim said, “The correct view is that the ‘limits’ (ḥudūd) referred to here are the rights embodied in Allah’s commands and prohibitions.”
This is what Allah meant when He said, “Whoever transgresses the limits set by Allah—it is they who are the wrongdoers.” ⦗2:229⦘