to pay what he owes when he is able to do so. In this connection, there is the hadith of Ibn ‘Umar in al-Sahīh:

“When the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, made peace with the people of Khaybar on condition that they surrender their gold and silver, he questioned Zayd ibn Sa‘yah, the uncle of Huyayy ibn Akhtab, saying: ‘Where is Huyayy ibn Akhtab’s treasure?’ He replied: ‘O Muhammad, the wars have consumed it.’ He then said to al-Zubayr: ‘Take charge of this man.’ Al-Zubayr subjected him to some torture, whereupon he directed them to it in a ruined building. It consisted of jewellery in a bull’s hide.”

This establishes a basis for beating an accused person who is known to have neglected an obligation or committed a prohibited act. And Allah knows best.

He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked:

About a man who has undertaken to adjudicate among a group of pellet shooters and says, “This is the law of pellet shooting,” while also serving as administrator over a school and jurists: does his administering this system of adjudication and the law he mentions invalidate the uprightness required for his administrative office? Must the Muslim judge before whom his uprightness has been established remove him from that office upon hearing that he administers the law of pellet shooting, which neither Allah nor His Messenger has prescribed?

He replied:

Praise be to Allah. No one may judge between any of Allah’s creatures—whether Muslims, unbelievers, young men, pellet shooters, soldiers, the poor, or anyone else—except according to the judgment of Allah and His Messenger. Whoever seeks anything else falls under