in the first category; hence, such a person may be beaten repeatedly until he performs the obligatory prayer incumbent upon him (1).
A group of scholars have interpreted the hadith recorded in the Two Sahihs (2), in which the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “No more than ten lashes may be administered except in connection with one of Allah’s limits,” as meaning that “Allah’s limits” refers to what has been prohibited by virtue of Allah’s right. In the terminology of the Quran and Sunnah, limits refer to the dividing line between the lawful and the unlawful—that is, where the lawful ends and the unlawful begins. Regarding the former, Allah says, “These are the limits set by Allah, so do not transgress them” [al-Baqarah: 229]; and regarding the latter, He says, “These are the limits set by Allah, so do not approach them” [al-Baqarah: 187]. As for calling a prescribed (3) punishment a hadd, this is a later terminological convention (4).
The hadith means that when someone administers a beating in vindication of a personal right (5)—as when a husband strikes his wife for marital defiance—he must not exceed ten lashes (6).