twenty or forty lashes. Another view holds that, for either, it must fall short of the prescribed punishment for a slave.

Some scholars say that the punishment for each offense must fall short of the prescribed punishment for its category, even if it exceeds the prescribed punishment for another category. Thus, someone who steals property not kept in a secure place must not have his hand amputated, even if he is given more lashes than the prescribed punishment for falsely accusing someone of unlawful sexual intercourse. Likewise, someone who commits acts short of unlawful sexual intercourse must not receive the prescribed punishment for that intercourse, even if his punishment exceeds that for a false accusation.

It is reported from ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man made an engraving on his seal ring and used it to obtain money from the public treasury. ʿUmar ordered that he be given a hundred strokes, then had him given a hundred strokes on the second day and a hundred on the third.

It is also reported from the Rightly Guided Caliphs concerning a man and woman found together under one blanket:

“They are each to be given a hundred lashes.”

It is reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), concerning a man who has intercourse with his wife’s slave woman, that if his wife had given him permission, he is to be given a hundred lashes; if she had not given him permission, he is to be stoned to death.

These views are found in the school of Ahmad and others. The first two views are found in the school of al-Shāfiʿī and others.

As for Mālik and others, it is reported that they held that certain crimes may warrant execution. Some scholars of Ahmad’s school agreed with him in cases such as that of a Muslim spy who spies on the Muslims for the enemy. Ahmad withheld judgment on whether such a person should be executed. Mālik and some Hanbalī scholars, such as Ibn ʿAqīl, permitted his execution, while Abū Hanīfa, al-Shāfiʿī, and some Hanbalī scholars, such as Judge Abū Yaʿlā, prohibited it.