Prescribed Punishments (Kitab Al-Hudud)
كتاب الحدود
Chapter 6: Concealing those who have committed deeds for which had punishments are prescribed
Huzzal had ordered Ma’iz to go to the prophet (ﷺ) and tell him(about his having committed adultery).
Chapter 7: Regarding one deserving of the punishment coming to confess
When a woman went out in the time of the Prophet (ﷺ) for prayer, a man attacked her and overpowered (raped) her.
She shouted and he went off, and when a man came by, she said: That (man) did such and such to me. And when a company of the Emigrants came by, she said: That man did such and such to me. They went and seized the man whom they thought had had intercourse with her and brought him to her.
She said: Yes, this is he. Then they brought him to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).
When he (the Prophet) was about to pass sentence, the man who (actually) had assaulted her stood up and said: Messenger of Allah, I am the man who did it to her.
He (the Prophet) said to her: Go away, for Allah has forgiven you. But he told the man some good words (AbuDawud said: meaning the man who was seized), and of the man who had had intercourse with her, he said: Stone him to death.
He also said: He has repented to such an extent that if the people of Medina had repented similarly, it would have been accepted from them.
Abu Dawud said: Asbat bin Nasr has also transmitted it from Simak.
Chapter 8: Prompting with regard to hadd
A thief who had accepted (having committed theft) was brought to the Prophet (ﷺ), but no good were found with him. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), said to him: I do not think you have stolen. He said: Yes, I have. He repeated it twice or thrice. So he gave orders. His hand was cut off and he was then brought to him. He said: Ask Allah's pardon and turn to Him in repentance. He said: I ask Allah's pardon and turn to Him in repentance. He (the Prophet) then said: O Allah, accept his repentance.
Abu Dawud said: It has been transmitted by 'Amr b. Asim, from Hammam, from Ishaq b. 'Abd Allah from Abu Ummayyah, a man of the Ansar from the Prophet (ﷺ).
Chapter 10: Testing by means of beating
They came to an-Nu'man and said: You have set them free without beating and investigation. An-Nu'man said: What do you want? You want me to beat them. If your goods are found with them, then it is all right; otherwise, I shall take (retaliation) from your back as I have taken from their backs. They asked: Is this your decision? He said: This is the decision of Allah and His Apostle (ﷺ).
Abu Dawud said: By this statement he frightened them ; that is, beating is not necessary except after acknowledgement.
Chapter 11: For what the hand of a thief is to be cut off
The prophet (ﷺ) used to cut off a thief’s hand for a quarter of a dinar and upwards.
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) had a man's hand cut off for (stealing) a shield whose price was a dinar or ten dirhams.
Abu Dawud said: Muhammad bin Salamah and Sa'dan bin Yahya have transmitted it from Ibn Ishaq through his chain of narrators.
Chapter 14: One who steals a thing from a place where it is protected
I was sleeping in the mosque on a cloak mine whose price was thirty dirhams. A man came and pinched it away from me. The man was seized and brought to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He ordered that his hand should be cut off. I came to him and said: Do you cut off only for thirty dirhams ? I sell it to him and make the payment of its price a loan ? He said: Why did you not do so before bringing him to me ?
Abu Dawud said: Za'idah has also transmitted it from Simak from Ju'ayd ibn Hujayr. He said: Safwan slept. Mujahid and Tawus said: While he was sleeping a thief came and stole the cloak from beneath his head. The version of AbuSalamah ibn AbdurRahman has: He snatched it away from beneath his head and he awoke. He cried and he (the thief) was seized. Az-Zuhri narrated from Safwan ibn Abdullah. His version has: He slept in the mosque and used his cloak as pillow. A thief came and took his cloak. The thief was seized and brought to the Prophet (ﷺ).
Chapter 15: Cutting off the hand for a loan if he denies borrowing it
Abu Dawud said: Juwairiyyah has transmitted it from Nafi from Ibn ‘Umar or from Safiyyah daughter of Abu ‘Ubaid. This version adds: The prophet (ﷺ) got up and gave an address saying : Is there any woman who repents to Allah, the Exalted, and to his Apostle? He said it three times, That( woman) was present there but she did not get up and speak. Ibn Ghunj transmitted it from Nafi from Safiyyah daughter of Abu ‘Ubaid. This version has : He witnessed to her.
Chapter 16: If an insane person steals or commits a crime that is subject to a had
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: There are three (persons) whose actions are not recorded: a sleeper till he awakes, an idiot till he is restored to reason, and a boy till he reaches puberty.
Ibn Abbas said: A lunatic woman passed by Ali ibn AbuTalib. He then mentioned the rest of the tradition to the same effect as Uthman mentioned. This version has: Do you not remember that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) has said: There are three whose actions are not recorded: a lunatic whose mind is deranged till he is restored to consciousness, a sleeper till he awakes, and a boy till he reaches puberty?
Chapter 17: A child who commits a crime that is subject to a had (punishment)
I was among the captives of Banu Qurayzah. They (the Companions) examined us, and those who had begun to grow hair (pubes) were killed, and those who had not were not killed. I was among those who had not grown hair.
Chapter 18: The thief who steals during a military expedition - should his hand be cut off
Junadah ibn AbuUmayyah said: We were with Busr ibn Artat on the sea (on an expedition). A thief called Misdar who had stolen a bukhti she-camel was brought. He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: Hands are not to be cut off during a warlike expedition. Had it not been so, I would have cut it off.
Chapter 23: Stoning
The tradition mentioned above (No. 4401) has also been transmitted by Ubadah ibn as-Samit through a different chain of narrators.
This version has: The people said to Sa'd ibn Ubadah: AbuThabit, the prescribed punishments have been revealed: if you find a man with your wife, what will you do?
He said: I shall strike them with a sword so much that they become silent (i.e. die). Should I go and gather four witnesses? Until that (time) the need would be fulfilled.
So they went away and gathered with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said: Messenger of Allah! did you not see AbuThabit. He said so-and-so.
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The sword is a sufficient witness. He then said: No, no, a furious and a jealous man may follow this course.
Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been transmitted by Waki' from al-Fadl b. Dilham from al-Hasan, from Qabisah b. Huraith, from Salamah b. al-Muhabbaq, from the Prophet (ﷺ). And this is the chain of the tradition narrated by Ibn al-Muhabbaq to the effect that a man had sexual intercourse with a slave girl of his wife.
Abu Dawud said: Al-Fadl b. Dilham was not the memoriser of traditions. He was a butcher in Wasit.
Chapter 24: Stoning of Ma'iz bin Malik
Yazid ibn Nu'aym ibn Huzzal, on his father's authority said: Ma'iz ibn Malik was an orphan under the protection of my father. He had illegal sexual intercourse with a slave-girl belonging to a clan. My father said to him: Go to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and inform him of what you have done, for he may perhaps ask Allah for your forgiveness. His purpose in that was simply a hope that it might be a way of escape for him.
So he went to him and said: Messenger of Allah! I have committed fornication, so inflict on me the punishment ordained by Allah. He (the Prophet) turned away from him, so he came back and said: Messenger of Allah! I have committed fornication, so inflict on me the punishment ordained by Allah. He (again) turned away from him, so he came back and said: Messenger of Allah! I have committed fornication, so inflict on me the punishment ordained by Allah.
When he uttered it four times, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: You have said it four times. With whom did you commit it?
He replied: With so and so. He asked: Did you lie down with her? He replied: Yes. He asked: Had your skin been in contact with hers? He replied. Yes. He asked: Did you have intercourse with her? He said: Yes. So he (the Prophet) gave orders that he should be stoned to death. He was then taken out to the Harrah, and while he was being stoned he felt the effect of the stones and could not bear it and fled. But Abdullah ibn Unays encountered him when those who had been stoning him could not catch up with him. He threw the bone of a camel's foreleg at him, which hit him and killed him. They then went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and reported it to him.
He said: Why did you not leave him alone. Perhaps he might have repented and been forgiven by Allah.
I saw Ma’iz b. Malik when he was brought to the Prophet (ﷺ). He was a small and muscular man. He did not wear the loose outer garment. He made confession about him four times that he committed fornication. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Perhaps you kissed her. He said that this most discarded man has committed fornication. He said: So he had him stoned to death and gave an address, saying: Beware, whenever we go out on an expedition in the path of Allah, one of them (I.e. the people) lags behind with a bleating sound like that of a he-goat, and gives modicum of his milk(i.e. sperm) to one of the women. If Allah gives control over any of them, I shall deter him from them (i.e. women) by punishing him severely.
A man came to Prophet (ﷺ). He then mentioned a similar tradition but not completely. This version has: People began to speak ill of him but he (the Prophet) forbade them. Then they began to ask forgiveness from him, but he forbade them by saying. He is a man who had committed a sin. Allah will call him to account himself.
Chapter 17: A child who commits a crime that is subject to a had (punishment)
They uncovered my private parts, and when they found that the hair had not begun to grow they put me among the captives.
When I mentioned this tradition to ‘Umar.b.’Abd al-Aziz he said : This prescribed punishment is between the minor and the major.
Chapter 23: Stoning
Receive my teachings, receive my teachings. Allah has appointed a way for those women. If the parties have been married, they shall receive a hundred lashes and stoned to death. If the parties are unmarried, they shall receive a hundred lashes and banished for a year.
Chapter 24: Stoning of Ma'iz bin Malik
Muhammad ibn Ishaq said: I mentioned the story of Ma'iz ibn Malik to Asim ibn Umar ibn Qatadah. He said to me: Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn AbuTalib said to me: Some men of the tribe of Aslam whom I do not blame and whom you like have transmitted to me the saying of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): Why did you not leave him alone?
He said: But I did not understand this tradition. So I went to Jabir ibn Abdullah and said (to him): Some men of the tribe of Aslam narrate that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said when they mentioned to him the anxiety of Ma'iz when the stones hurt him: "Why did you not leave him alone?' But I do not know this tradition.
He said: My cousin, I know this tradition more than the people. I was one of those who had stoned the man. When we came out with him, stoned him and he felt the effect of the stones, he cried: O people! return me to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). My people killed me and deceived me; they told me that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) would not kill me. We did not keep away from him till we killed him. When we returned to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) we informed him of it.
He said: Why did you not leave him alone and bring him to me? and he said this so that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) might ascertain it from him. But he did not say this to abandon the prescribed punishment. He said: I then understood the intent of the tradition.