this man—meaning a hired worker—and he had unlawful intercourse with his wife. I ransomed him with a hundred sheep and a servant. I asked some men of learning, and they told me that my son was liable to a hundred lashes and banishment for a year, and that this man’s wife was liable to stoning.’
He said, ‘By Him in whose hand is my soul, I shall certainly judge between you according to the Book of Allah. The hundred sheep and the servant must be returned to you. Your son shall receive a hundred lashes and be banished for a year. Go in the morning, O Unays, to this man’s wife and question her. If she confesses, stone her.’ He questioned her, and she confessed, so he stoned her.”
This hadith shows that when this money was paid on the offender’s behalf to spare him the prescribed punishment, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, ordered that the money be returned to its owner and that the prescribed punishment be carried out. He did not take the money for the Muslims, whether those fighting in Allah’s cause, the poor, or others. The Muslims unanimously agree that suspending a prescribed punishment in exchange for money or otherwise is impermissible. They also unanimously agree that money taken from those guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse, theft, drinking intoxicants, armed aggression, highway robbery, or similar offences in exchange for suspending the prescribed punishment is vile, unlawful gain.
Much of the corruption in people’s affairs arises from suspending prescribed punishments in exchange for money or through influence. This is one of the chief causes of corruption among the inhabitants of the deserts, villages, and cities: the Bedouins, Turkomans, Kurds, peasants, and partisans such as Qays and Yaman; and among urban people, including their leaders, rich and poor, rulers, commanders, and soldiers. It causes the official in authority to lose people’s respect, diminishes his standing in their hearts, and undermines his authority. When he accepts bribes and payments to suspend one prescribed punishment, his resolve to enforce another is weakened