Which Caliph is credited with enforcing the punishment of 80 lashes for consuming alcohol (sharab)?

Explanation

During the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the punishment for drinking alcohol was not fixed at a specific number of lashes; offenders were beaten with palm branches, shoes, or hands. Abu Bakr (R.A) later set it at 40 lashes. However, when Umar ibn al-Khattab (R.A) became Caliph and saw that people were not deterred by 40 lashes, he consulted the Sahaba and increased the punishment to 80 lashes as a discretionary punishment (ta'zir), making this a landmark ruling in Islamic legal history.

Good to know

The prohibition of alcohol (khamr) was revealed gradually in the Quran, with the final prohibition coming in Surah Al-Ma'idah (5:90-91). The fixed punishment of 80 lashes set by Umar (R.A) was based on analogy (qiyas) with the punishment for false accusation (qadhf), which is also 80 lashes, since a drunk person is likely to make false accusations. This ruling was later adopted by the majority of jurists in Islamic law.

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