has been cursed by Allah and His Messenger.

If the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“Whoever intercedes to prevent one of Allah’s prescribed punishments from being carried out has opposed Allah’s command,”

then what of someone who prevents these punishments through his power and direct intervention, accepting unlawful money in exchange for shielding criminals? This applies especially to prescribed punishments against desert dwellers. Among the greatest causes of corruption among them is protecting their transgressors through influence or money. Whether the money is taken for the public treasury or for the governor, secretly or openly, all of this is forbidden by Muslim consensus. It is akin to tadmīn (financial arrangements) involving taverns and wine. Anyone who is enabled to do this, or who helps another do it in return for money he receives, falls into the same category.

Money taken in this way resembles a prostitute’s earnings, a soothsayer’s fee, the price paid for a dog, and the payment received by someone who facilitates unlawful sexual relations—the person called a procurer. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“The price paid for a dog is foul, a prostitute’s earnings are foul, and a soothsayer’s fee is foul.”

Narrated by al-Bukhārī. A prostitute’s earnings are what is called hudūr al-qihāb. The same applies to money given to effeminate boys, whether enslaved or free, in return for committing sexual immorality with them. A soothsayer’s fee includes such things as the gratuity given to an astrologer or someone similar for what he claims to be good news, and other such reports.

When a ruler refrains from opposing wrongdoing and enforcing the prescribed punishments for it in return for money he receives, he becomes like a bandit chief who shares the plunder with highway robbers, or a procurer who takes his payment to bring two people together for an act of sexual immorality,