…so commanders and governors should do the same, and in every situation—whether leading the prayer or anything else—the weak and incapacitated must be taken into account.

2. The ruler’s disciplining of his subjects and troops: the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, rebuked them for their haste and action before obtaining his permission, and their punishment was to be deprived of the meat they had sought.

3. The scholars have differed over the reason the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, ordered that the pots be overturned. Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ suggested that it may have been because the animals had been seized unlawfully. He cited the report recorded by Abū Dāwūd from a man of the Anṣār who said: “The people were afflicted by severe hardship and hunger, so they came upon some sheep and plundered them. Our pots were already boiling when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, arrived on his horse, knocked over our pots with his bow, rubbed the meat with earth, and said: ‘Plunder is no more lawful than carrion.’”

4. The permissibility of imposing financial penalties as discretionary punishment when the ruler deems it beneficial to the public interest. This is a strong opinion related from Imām Aḥmad and adopted by many of his followers, including Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah and his student Ibn al-Qayyim. The aim of discretionary punishment is deterrence, and for some people a monetary penalty is more painful and effective than other forms of chastisement. The well-known position in the school, however, is that discretionary punishment is not applied through monetary fines, but this view is weak because it runs counter to many sound hadiths that have not been abrogated—for instance, the Prophet’s burning of the property of one who had embezzled from the spoils, his fining of a thief who stole from an unsecured place twice the amount stolen, his ordering someone who misappropriated a found item to pay twice its value, and similar cases.

5. Justice—especially in the arena of fighting the enemy and the unbelievers—is one of the causes of victory and triumph. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, apportioned the livestock among the people, counting one camel as the equivalent of ten sheep. This was a valuation of worth and does not prove that a camel suffices for ten sheep in the sacrifice, for that question is determined by revealed law, whereas this was a matter of market value.

6. If a camel, cow, sheep, or any other domesticated animal bolts and cannot be caught, it should be confined or killed by shooting; if it dies from the shot, that counts as its lawful slaughter, for it has taken on the ruling of wild game that has been pierced.

7. It is permissible to slaughter with any implement that makes the blood flow—iron, stone, reed, or the like.

8. Pronouncing the name of Allah is a condition for lawful slaughter, though previous discussion has shown that omission arising from forgetfulness or ignorance is excused.