He replied:

An enemy’s testimony against his enemy is not accepted, even if he is otherwise upright. These words, by themselves, do not constitute the kind of insult for which the speaker is put to death. Rather, he must be asked what he meant by “whoever ennobled him.” If his explanation, or circumstantial or verbal indications, establish that he intended to curse the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, he must be put to death.

If this is not established, or if circumstantial or verbal indications establish that he meant someone other than the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—for example, someone who honours or reveres that man, or considers him a man of noble lineage—then, by scholarly consensus, this does not warrant execution. Someone who is not a zindīq is not presumed to intend to curse the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Thus, when someone is known to be a believer and not a zindīq, that is evidence that he did not mean the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. By scholarly consensus, a Muslim must not be put to death for insulting someone of noble lineage. Execution is prescribed for insulting the prophets. As for insulting the Companions, scholars make distinctions and differ concerning the ruling.

However, anyone proven to have wronged a person of noble lineage or anyone else, whether verbally or physically, is punished for that wrongdoing: through equivalent retaliation, a sanction that deters further wrongdoing, or the prescribed punishment for slander if the offence constitutes slander warranting that punishment.

Wrongdoers must also be punished even if they themselves are of noble lineage. It is authentically reported in the two Sahīh collections that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Those before you were ruined because, when someone of high status among them stole, they let him go, but when someone weak among them stole, they inflicted the prescribed punishment upon him. By the One who