As for the ḥadith that forbids mutilation and commands that killing and slaughtering be done with kindness and the like, it remains fully in force for anyone who has not committed crimes of this enormity. Allah is the One who grants success; He is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Those men had gouged out the shepherd’s eyes and left him to die of thirst beneath the sun, so the Prophet ﷺ meted out the same treatment to them in exact retaliation. We have already noted that many scholars hold that a brutal murderer is to be killed by the very means he used, citing the verse, “But if you punish, then punish with the like of that with which you were afflicted” (Q 16:126). A ḥadith recorded by al-Bukhārī and Muslim will be cited later: “Whoever kills himself with something will be tormented with it on the Day of Resurrection.”

2- The ḥadith establishes the legitimacy of seeking medical treatment and taking the necessary measures. One aspect of treatment is to restore the body to what it is accustomed to in food, drink, and climate, and to avoid plague-stricken lands and polluted air.

3- Camel urine is pure, for it is impermissible to medicate with anything impure or unlawful. Even if we supposed that the Prophet ﷺ allowed them to drink it only out of dire necessity, he did not command them to rinse their mouths or their vessels afterward, and delaying clarification beyond the moment of need is not acceptable. By analogy, the same ruling applies to every animal whose meat is lawful to eat.

Second ḥadith

ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUtbah ibn Masʿūd relates from Abū Hurayrah and Zayd ibn Khālid al-Juhanī (may Allah be pleased with them both) that they said:

A Bedouin came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I adjure you by Allah: judge between us only according to the Book of Allah.”

The other litigant—who was more knowledgeable than he—said, “Yes, judge between us by the Book of Allah, and allow me to speak.” The Prophet ﷺ said, “Speak.”

He said, “My son was working as a hired laborer for this man, then he committed adultery with his wife. I was told that my son’s penalty is stoning, so I ransomed him with one hundred sheep and a slave-girl. Then I consulted the scholars, and they informed me that what is due upon my son is one hundred lashes and a year of exile, while this man’s wife must be stoned.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “By the One in whose hand is my soul, I will certainly judge between you according to the Book of Allah. The slave-girl and the sheep are to be returned to you. Your son is to receive one hundred lashes and be banished for a year, and this man’s wife is to be stoned. O Anīs”—a man from the tribe of Aslam—“go to this man’s wife; if she confesses, stone her.”

Anīs went to her, and she confessed, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered that she be stoned.

Glossary

al-ʿasīf: a hired laborer.

Anshuduka Allāh: “I beseech you by Allah.”