He also said—concerning anyone who maligns the Companions—that “the ruler is obliged to punish him; if he repents, good, but if not, the punishment is to be repeated.”
The compiler of Shaykh al-Islām’s al-Ikhtiyārāt quotes him at length on this chapter, so we shall restrict ourselves to select passages that convey his position and light the way on this issue.
He stated: “Taʿzīr may consist in removal from office and in affronting a person’s honor—such as saying, ‘You wrong-doer, you aggressor!’—or by expelling him from the gathering.”
He further said: “Financial taʿzīr is permissible, whether by destroying property or confiscating it. This follows the basic doctrine of Aḥmad, for his disciples unanimously hold that monetary penalties have not been abrogated.”
Shaykh Abū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī (Ibn Qudāmah) remarked, “It is not permissible to seize the wealth of the one being disciplined,” and by this he alluded to the practices of oppressive governors.
Shaykh al-Islām also said: “The ruler may discipline anyone proven to have concealed information that he was obliged to disclose, just as he may discipline someone who makes an ambiguous confession until he clarifies it, or one who suppresses a confession altogether.”
Taʿzīr may likewise consist in withholding something recommended, as when a sneezer who fails to praise Allah is disciplined by not being answered with the customary ‘may Allah have mercy on you.’
He added: “I gave a legal verdict to a commander leading a large army in a military campaign: if the troops plunder Muslim property and will not desist unless they are killed, he may lawfully kill as many of them as will deter the rest—even ten of them—because this comes under the heading of repelling an aggressor.”
Ibn al-Qayyim said: “The correct view is that the ‘ḥudūd’ mentioned here are the rights that comprise Allah’s commands and prohibitions. They are what He means by His words, ‘Whoever transgresses the limits set by Allah—such people are the wrongdoers’ and elsewhere ‘he has wronged himself,’ and ‘These are the limits set by Allah, so do not approach them.’ Accordingly, no more than ten lashes are to be given in disciplinary measures that do not pertain to sin, such as a father correcting his young child.”
Abū Yūsuf, the companion of Abū Ḥanīfah, said: “Taʿzīr is proportionate to the magnitude or slightness of the offense and to what the judge deems the offender can bear, within the range of less than eighty lashes.”
Imam Mālik, may Allah have mercy on him, stated: “Taʿzīr corresponds to the gravity of the crime; if the crime is more serious than slanderous accusation, he may be lashed one hundred times or more.”
Abū Thawr said: “Taʿzīr is determined by the severity of the offense, the swiftness of the perpetrator to do evil, and by whatever will be the most deterrent and effective correction—even if it exceeds the usual limit—when the crime is grave, such as a man killing his slave, cutting off a limb, or punishing him with excessive cruelty. In such cases the punishment must match the offense, according to what the imam sees fit, provided he is just and trustworthy.”