and in another verse He said: “These are the limits set by Allah, so do not even approach them.” ⦗2:187⦘

He (Ibn al-Qayyim) also said, “The corporal chastisement that must not exceed ten lashes is the sort that is unrelated to a sin, such as a father disciplining his small child.”

Abu Yūsuf stated, “Taʿzīr is to be proportionate to the gravity or triviality of the offence, and to what the judge deems the offender can bear, anywhere up to—but less than—eighty lashes.”

Imām Mālik—may Allah have mercy on him—said, “Taʿzīr is meted out in accordance with the seriousness of the wrongdoing; if the offence is graver than slander, one may strike him one hundred times or more.”

Abu Thawr said, “Taʿzīr corresponds to the magnitude of the crime, to the perpetrator’s eagerness for evil, and to whatever will be more incisive and more effective as discipline—even if that means the taʿzīr surpasses the normal limit—when the offence is enormous, such as a man killing his slave, mutilating him, or punishing him with excessive cruelty. In such cases the punishment should match the offence, according to what the ruler, provided he is just and trustworthy, deems appropriate.”

Our shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿdī—may Allah have mercy on him and on all of these imams—said, “The sound position is that it is permissible to exceed ten lashes in taʿzīr whenever the public interest and the need for deterrence so require.”

These, then, are the statements and opinions of the imams concerning taʿzīr, may Allah have mercy on them all.

Two points transmitted from Shaykh al-Islām:

1. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb used to repeat the taʿzīr punishment and distribute it over the deed when the act comprised several kinds of prohibitions. He would administer one hundred lashes on the first day, another hundred on the second, and another hundred on the third, apportioning the punishment so that no single limb would be ruined.

2. Anyone who owns male or female slaves is obliged to command them to do what is right and forbid them from what is wrong. If he has the ability to punish them, he should apply taʿzīr when they neglect obligatory duties or commit prohibitions.