as are the wages of anyone who hires himself out to transport wine and other such earnings, according to the most evident scholarly opinion.

For when someone obtains a prohibited benefit in return for payment—such as a man who pays to fornicate with a woman, listen to musical entertainment, or drink wine—returning his payment after he has fulfilled his purpose only further assists him in disobedience. If he sought that benefit in exchange for payment, then allowing him to obtain both the benefit and the payment would assist him all the more in sin and transgression. Yet if the payment were given to the seller or lessor, that person would thereby be allowed the illicit proceeds. This money is therefore to be spent (1) in the interests of the Muslims.

Umar was a just ruler, and he had taken the view that any amount exceeding the dower prescribed by the Shariah should be treated in this manner. A woman objected to him and said:

“Why do you prevent us from receiving something Allah has granted us in His Book?”

He asked:

“Where is that in Allah’s Book?”

She replied:

“In the words of the Exalted:

‘Even if you have given one of them a great amount, do not take any of it back.’

[Surah al-Nisā: 20]”

It is also related that she said to him:

“Are we to listen to you or to the Book of Allah Most High?”

He replied:

“Rather, to the Book of Allah.”

She then recited the verse to him, whereupon he said:

“A man was wrong, and a woman was right” (2).