let him flog her, and let him sell her (25) even for a leather strap." He (26) also said: Abu al-Ahwas told us, Abd al-A'la told us, from Abu Jamilah, from Ali, from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) that he said: "Carry out the prescribed punishments upon those whom your right hands possess." Al-Daraqutni recorded it (27). This is because the master possesses the right to discipline his slave girl and to marry her off, therefore he possesses the right to carry out the prescribed punishment upon her, like the Sultan, and he is distinct from a child. Once this is established, he only possesses the right to carry out the prescribed punishment under four conditions; the first is that it must be flogging, such as the punishment for adultery, drinking, and slander. As for execution in the case of apostasy and amputation in the case of theft, he does not possess the right to carry them out; only the Imam does. This is the opinion of the majority of scholars, though there is another view regarding them, which is that the master does possess the right to carry them out. This is the apparent view of the school of al-Shafi'i, due to the generality of the saying of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): "Carry out the prescribed punishments upon those whom your right hands possess." It was narrated that Ibn Umar amputated a slave who committed theft (28), as did Aisha. And it is narrated from Hafsa that she executed a slave girl of hers who had bewitched her (28). This is because it is a prescribed punishment that resembles flogging. Al-Qadi said: The speech of Ahmad implies that there are two narrations regarding the amputation of the thief. Our position is that the principle is the delegation of the prescribed punishment to the Imam, because it is a right of Allah the Almighty, and thus it is delegated to His deputy, just as in the case of free persons, and because of what the companions of Abu Hanifa mentioned. The right was delegated to the master only regarding flogging because it is a form of discipline, and the master possesses the right to discipline (29) his slave and strike him for a sin, and this is of that same nature. They only differ in that the former is a fixed measure while discipline is not, and this has no effect in preventing the master from doing it, unlike amputation and execution, for they are the destruction of his entire self or a part of him (30) that is sound, and the master does not possess this right over his slave, nor anything of its kind. The report narrated regarding the master's punishment of his slave only pertains specifically to adultery, and we have merely analogized what resembles it in terms of flogging to it. His saying: "Carry out the prescribed punishments upon those whom your right hands possess," only came in the context of flogging for adultery, for the beginning of the hadith from Ali