Every item that is unlawful in itself—whether a physical object or a composed work—must be eliminated or altered; the Muslims are universally agreed on this. Examples include pouring out a Muslim’s wine, dismantling instruments of entertainment, and defacing pictorial images. Scholars only disagreed over whether it is permissible to destroy the vessel or setting that houses such prohibited things, depending on the circumstance. The correct view is that it is permissible, as is proven by the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the unanimous practice of the early generations; it is the manifest position of Malik, Ahmad, and others. The sound position is that every intoxicant, whether eaten or drunk, is forbidden. This covers tobacco, mizr⦗1⦘, cannabis-based hashish, and anything similar.

As for financial liability, Abu Dawud and the other compilers of the Sunan relate that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ruled concerning a person who steals hanging fruit before it has been gathered to the threshing floor: he is to be given deterrent lashes and required to pay double its value. Likewise, one who steals livestock before they are herded into the night pen is to receive deterrent lashes and pay double compensation.

ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab also ruled that anyone who conceals a stray animal must pay double its value, and a group of scholars such as Ahmad held the same. ʿUmar and others doubled the compensation in the case of a Bedouin’s she-camel that hungry slaves had taken: he imposed the doubled amount on their master and waived the hadd of amputation for the slaves. ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan likewise ruled that when a Muslim deliberately kills a dhimmī, he must pay double the blood-money, for the diyah of a dhimmī is half that of a Muslim; Imam Ahmad adopted this ruling as well.