He also said: “Whoever comes to you while you are all united behind a single leader, seeking to break up your community, strike his neck with the sword, whoever he may be.” 1

The Prophet likewise ordered that a man who had deliberately lied against him be put to death. Ibn al-Daylamī asked him about someone who refuses to give up drinking wine, and he replied, “Whoever will not desist from it, kill him.” 2

On the basis of such texts, Mālik and a number of Aḥmad’s followers held that it is permissible to execute a spy, while Mālik—and the Shāfiʿīs who agreed with him—permitted the execution of anyone who actively calls people to innovation. This brief set of principles is not the place to detail those rulings, for the muḥtasib (public inspector of morals) has no authority to kill or to mutilate.

Among the discretionary punishments are banishment and exile. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb used to mete out exile for wine-drinking, sending offenders to Khaybar; he likewise banished Ṣabīgh ibn ʿAsl to Basra, and expelled Naṣr ibn Ḥajjāj to Basra when women became infatuated with him.