How much a teacher may strike a pupil

Question

Question: How much may a teacher beat his pupil? Has the Shari‘a fixed any limit for it? A certain respected religious scholar was saying that a teacher may not strike his pupil with a cane more than three times, and if he does, it will be injustice (zulm). This humble one says: if the student, despite receiving three strokes of the cane, does not learn his lesson and does not desist from mischief, then in that case, if the teacher, with good intention — out of goodwill toward him, for his reform, so that he…

Answer

Small children may be struck without a cane and the like, only with the hand, and that too in accordance with their endurance — up to three slaps, and that too avoiding the head and face, i.e. on the neck and back. There is no permission for more than this; otherwise the children will take retaliation (qisas) on the Day of Resurrection.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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