Ta'dhib (torment or punishment beyond the lawful: the prisoner, the thief, animals)

التعذيب

Ta'dhib is inflicting punishment or harm. The basis is prohibition, since it punishes without right. It is lawful in discipline, the fixed penalties, retaliation and discipline by the ruler; the Hanafis allow cauterising for treatment when it is needed; and the jurists allow burning enemies in war when they cannot be taken otherwise, but not after capture. A captive may be made to reveal hidden property, and is not tormented at the start; an accused man of known goodness is not punished, one of unknown standing is detained, and one known for wrongdoing may be detained and beaten according to some. Torment of animals by starving them or using a living creature as a target is forbidden; branding and training are lawful to the extent of need. ¹ ² ³ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶

Overview

Ta'dhib is inflicting punishment or harm; the basis is prohibition, since it punishes without right. ¹

Related terms

Ta'zir is discipline below the fixed penalty; ta'dib is correction by speech or by beating; mutilation is disfiguring a corpse; ta'dhib is wider than them all. ¹ ²

Ruling

Torment is forbidden in principle, on the hadith «God will torment on the Day of Resurrection those who torment people in this world». ² Retaliation short of death is carried out by the ruler, and the Hanbalis require the ruler's presence for a killing. ²

Lawful torment of persons

It is lawful in the fixed penalties, retaliation and discipline; cauterising is lawful for treatment if needed. Burning enemies in war is lawful when they cannot be taken otherwise, but not once they are under control, on the hadith of Hamza al-Aslami «do not burn him, for none punishes with fire but the Lord of fire». A father may beat his child to discipline him, a teacher with the father's leave, and he is liable if he exceeds; piercing a girl's ear is lawful. ³ ⁴

The accused

A man of known goodness is not punished by agreement; one of unknown standing is held until his standing is known, on the hadith of Bahz ibn Hakim about the Prophet ﷺ holding a suspect. One known for wrongdoing may be held and beaten according to some jurists, citing the Prophet's order to Zubayr to punish a man who hid money; the views are that both ruler and judge beat, or only the ruler, or that he is held and not beaten. ⁴

Captives

Captives may not be tormented, since Islam calls for gentleness toward them and feeding them. They may be held if feared to flee, and threatened or lightly punished when there is hope they will reveal the enemy's secrets. If the enemy tortures Muslim captives, the same may be done to theirs. ⁵

Animals

Branding of zakat and tax-paying animals is lawful; grilling live fish is lawful for the Malikis; beating for training is lawful to need. Forbidden are starving or denying water to an animal, on the hadith of the woman in the Fire for a cat, using a living creature as a target, and cutting the head or skinning a slaughtered animal before it has cooled. ⁵ ⁶

Reference

Torment is treated in crimes, discipline, slaughter, captivity, governance and war. ⁶

Sources

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5406

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5407

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5408

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5409

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5410

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5411

Hija' (satire and insult in verse: its rules)

Hija', in the lexical sense, is the opposite of praise: it is abuse and enumeration of faults; the word also means spelling out the letters of a word. It differs from sabb (abuse, which is wider), from qadhf (accusing a free Muslim of unchastity or of a false lineage), and from ghiba (backbiting, said in the absence of the person). Most jurists allow satirising an unbelieving non-protected person and an apostate, since the Prophet bade Hassan ibn Thabit satirise the unbelievers, and forbid satirising a Muslim; the Shafi'is except an innovator and an open sinner; the Hanafis allow satire of a hypocrite. Satirising the dead is judged as satirising the living. If two men abuse each other, the sin falls on the one who began, and retaliation is allowed to the extent of the wrong. The imam may discipline one who satirises people without right.