A monetary fine imposed by the biradari (community)

Question

Here, in some biradaris (kinship communities), the practice is that if someone commits a sin, they take a few rupees from him as kaffara (expiation), and also make it binding upon him, for example, to carry water to such-and-such a Friday mosque for some days. I had a difficulty with taking the money: I regarded it as ta‘zir by property (ta‘zir bi-l-mal), and ta‘zir by property is haram according to the Hanafis.

Answer

Ta‘zir (discretionary punishment) exists precisely for restraint and reprimand — whether by a slap or by making one hold one’s ears; it is for this same purpose that money is taken, and that is not permitted. Ta‘zir is precisely that punishment which is not fixed by the Shari‘a in the way a hadd is, and its purpose is reform; it is under this very heading that the fuqaha’ have…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.