Fines are monetary penalties imposed by legal and administrative authorities for a variety of offences. Fines were commonly used as a form of punishment in the Middle East before the rise of Islam in the seventh century C.E. The Byzantines and Sāsānians regularly utilised fines as legal and administrative measures. The Qurʾān does not mention fines. In classical discussions of law, however, the fine was considered a form of taʿzīr , or discretionary punishment, although there were disagreements on this interpretation. Mālik b. Anas (d. 179/796) and al-Shāfiʿī (