“Gabriel came to me and said, ‘I came to you tonight, and nothing prevented me from entering the house where you were except that it contained a statue of a man, a thin curtain bearing images, and a dog.’ He then instructed that the statue’s head be cut off so that it would resemble a tree, that the curtain be cut up and made into two cushions laid aside to be trodden upon, and that the dog be taken out. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, complied. The dog turned out to be a puppy belonging to al-Hasan and al-Husayn, beneath their clothes rack.”

This was narrated by Imam Ahmad, Abū Dāwūd, and al-Tirmidhī, who graded it authentic.

The Muslims agree that anything prohibited in its substance or configuration is to be removed or altered. Examples include pouring away wine belonging to a Muslim, dismantling musical instruments, and altering images. Their disagreement concerns only whether the objects containing or bearing these prohibited things may also be destroyed along with them. The correct view is that this is permissible, as indicated by the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the early generations. This is also the apparent position of Mālik, Ahmad, and others.

The correct view is that every intoxicating food or drink is forbidden. This includes mead, grain beer, cannabis, and other such substances.

As for financial penalties, an example is what Abū Dāwūd and other compilers of the Sunan narrated from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Concerning someone who steals fruit still hanging on the trees before it is brought to the drying floor: he is to receive lashes as a deterrent and pay twice its value. And concerning someone who