Question:

What is the ruling on substituting a prescribed penalty proven by texts of the Qur’an and the Sunnah with a monetary fine? For example, instead of cutting off the hand of a thief, he is fined a sum of money and instead of stoning an adulterer and flogging a fornicator, they are fined a specific sum of money.

Answer:

It is not permissible to substitute the Hudud (ordained punishments for violating Allah’s Law) that Allah decreed with monetary fines; because the Hadud are Tawqifi (bound by a religious text and not amenable to personal opinion) and it is not permissible to change them.