English
Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: I do not know whether the prescribed punishments are expiations for their people or not. [Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in his Sunan. Abd al-Razzaq, al-Hakim in his Mustadrak, and al-Bazzar in his Musnad narrated the same. Al-Hakim said: It is authentic on the condition of the two Shaykhs, and the chain is strong by the acknowledgment of the Hafiz. Abu Hurayra is later than Ubada, so the consideration is for him.]
Al-Tahawi narrated from Abu Hurayra, who said: A thief was brought to the Prophet (ﷺ), and they said: O Messenger of Allah, this one stole. He said: I do not think he stole. The thief said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He said: Take him, cut him, then cauterize him, and bring him back to me. He said: He was taken, cut, cauterized, and brought back. He said: Repent to Allah, the Mighty and Exalted. He said: I have repented to Allah. He said: Allah has accepted your repentance.
In a narration by Abu Dawud, al-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah, and al-Darimi: He was ordered to be cut, and he was brought back. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to him: Seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him. He said: I seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: O Allah, accept his repentance, three times. This indicates that the prescribed punishment is not an expiation for sins, and the expiation is repentance.
Possible references (unverified, pending editorial review)
- Candidate: Sunan Abi Dawud 4380 (unverified) 50% confidence
- Candidate: Sunan al-Nasa'i 4877 (unverified) 45% confidence
- Candidate: Sunan Ibn Majah 2597 (unverified) 45% confidence
- Candidate: Mishkat al-Masabih 3576 (unverified) 40% confidence
Confidence and text similarity are not editorial verification.
Commentary and footnotes (3)
Note 1
(1) The statement: I do not know whether the prescribed punishments are expiations for their people or not: The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, differed on whether purification from sin is among the rulings of the prescribed punishment without repentance. Many scholars, including the Shafi’is, held this view. Our companions held that it is not among the rulings of the prescribed punishment. If the punishment is enforced on him and he does not repent, the sin of that disobedience does not fall from him, and he is not purified without repentance according to us, meaning the punishment is not a purifier according to us, but the purifier is repentance. This is based on these narrations and the verse on highway robbers, as He, the Exalted, said: That is for them disgrace in this world, and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment, except for those who repent [al-Ma’ida: 33-34]. The demonstrative pronoun refers to killing, crucifixion, or exile. Allah combined worldly and hereafter punishment for them and dropped the hereafter punishment with repentance, as the exception refers to it, due to the consensus that repentance does not drop the prescribed punishment in this world. As for what al-Bukhari and others narrated authentically: If one commits any of these sins and is punished for it in this world, it is an expiation for him. If one commits any of them and Allah conceals it, it is up to Allah; if He wills, He forgives him, and if He wills, He punishes him. This must be understood as applying when he repents during the punishment, as this is apparent, because it is apparent that his beating or stoning is accompanied by his repentance due to experiencing the cause of his action, so it is qualified by this to reconcile the evidence. Qualifying the speculative with the definitive opposing it is necessary, unlike the reverse. [As in Fath al-Qadir.] Al-Zayla’i argued that it is not a purifier from sin because it is enforced on the disbeliever, and there is no purifier for him by consensus. Our clearest evidence is in al-Nahr. [Taken from al-Bahr al-Ra’iq, Foundation of Care, Refutation of the Perplexed, and al-Arf al-Shadhi.]
Note 1
اس کے ہم معنی روایت کی ہے۔ حاکم نے کہا ہے کہ یہ حدیث شیخین کی شرط کے مطابق صحیح ہے، حافظ نے کہا ہے کہ اس کی سند قوی ہے اور سیدنا ابو ہریرہ رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہ حضرت عبادہ سے متاخر ہیں اس لئے سیدنا ابو ہریرہ رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہ کی حدیث کا اعتبار کیا جائے گا۔
Note 2
اس سے یہ بات معلوم ہوتی ہے کہ گناہوں کا کفارہ حد نہیں ہے بلکہ اس کا کفارہ توبہ ہے۔