Islamic Fiqh > Penalties (hudud) > Khamr and discretionary penalties (ta'zir)
The public sanction of wine received diverse views (40 to 80 lashes): the chapter's history, and the ta'zir principle covering most offenses of social life.
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Updated on 31 August 2026 at 3:55 AM
Intoxicating drink (khamr) has its own hadd, and every act entering no hadd falls under ta'zir. The encyclopedia treats the two together: the hadd of wine fixes the penalty, ta'zir covers everything else.
Hanafis restrict khamr proper to four drinks: fermented fresh grape juice, grape juice cooked down by two thirds (tila), fermented infusion of raw dates (sakar) and fermented infusion of raisins. Any other intoxicating drink (nabidh of grains or honey) remains lawful for them as long as the quantity drunk does not intoxicate. Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis, with most of the Companions, generalize: any drink that intoxicates in large quantity is forbidden in small quantity, impure and subject to the hadd, based on the sayings: « Every intoxicant is khamr, and every khamr is forbidden » (Muslim 2003) and « Every drink that intoxicates is forbidden » (al-Bukhari 5263 ; Muslim 2001).
The scholars agree that the sane adult Muslim who voluntarily drinks khamr, little or much, drunk or not, incurs the hadd. Its amount is debated: Shafi'is and Hanbalis (in one transmission) fix 40 lashes, based on the account of Uthman striking al-Walid while counting: « the Prophet flogged 40, Abu Bakr 40, Umar 80, and each acted according to the sunna, and this is dearer to me » (Muslim 1707); the majority add that the imam may go up to 80 as ta'zir. The reports mentioning execution after a fourth relapse are considered abrogated by the consensus of the Companions (an-Nawawi). Proof is established by two witnesses: the smell, drunkenness, vomiting.
He was told: flog him. Some of us struck with the hand, some with the sandal, some with a garment. When he left, some said: may Allah disgrace him. He replied: do not say so, do not help Satan against him, say rather: may Allah have mercy on you.al-Bukhari 3695
The majority (Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi'is in one view, Hanbalis in the mazhab) applies the whip, relying on the order to flog the drinker and on the practice of the rightly guided caliphs; Shafi'is in the mazhab and some Hanbalis retain hand, sandal and garment edge, a lighter manner for a lighter penalty.
For any blameworthy act without a hadd, the judge has a range fixed by the schools: public reprimand and blame (unanimity), imprisonment (unanimity, capped at one year among Shafi'is, left to assessment among Malikis), moderate lashes, and public exposure for certain offenses such as false testimony. Hanafis in their soundest view, Malikis, Shafi'is in the mazhab and Hanbalis refuse to touch property (ta'zir by fine); Abu Yusuf, the Malikis as reported by Ibn Farhun, and the choice of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim admit it, specifying that the money held must be returned or assigned to public interest, never taken for the judge's own treasury.
A man came to the Prophet and told him he had kissed a woman or touched her. Then was revealed: « Observe prayer at the two ends of the day... indeed good deeds do away with misdeeds ». The man asked: is this for me alone? He answered: for my whole community.al-Bukhari 503 ; Muslim 2763
The jurists establish that whoever commits an act without a hadd and then comes forward in sincere repentance is no longer punished; the authority strengthens his resolve instead of sanctioning him. What touches the right of a person only falls away through that person's pardon. The Malikis specify: ta'zir concerning the right of Allah falls away through repentance, what touches the right of a human being requires his pardon.
Between the hadd of wine and ta'zir for everything else, the guiding thread remains the same: a penalty bounded by the text where the text speaks, a penalty adapted by the judge where it does not.