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What is the legal ruling on those who spread discord in the name of religion, who should enforce the punishment on them, and can they be punished by cutting out their tongues, by analogy with cutting off the hand of a thief?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

"It is necessary to warn against the گمراہ شيوخ (misguided scholars) and to clarify their deviation from the Sunnah, so that matters do not become confused for people. There is no fixed legal (Shar'i) حد (prescribed punishment) for such individuals. If they deserve punishment, it would be a تعزير (discretionary punishment) whose estimation and execution fall to the Sultan or his deputy, and not to individuals among the common people. Analogy (Qiyas) in legal (Shar'i) punishments does not mean inventing a new penalty. Rather, it means assigning to a crime for which there is no specific religious text a punishment similar to a crime for which a حد has been established, due to a commonality between them. This applies to those whose misguidance and incitement to discord (fitna) have been proven. It is not permissible to disparage those who follow the Sunnah with this description."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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