Is it obligatory for the ruler to apply the hadith regarding the killing of one who drinks intoxicants for the fourth time? Or does he consider the public benefit in that?

The Shaykh : The question remains a jurisprudential one; it is better that you look at the reality, for the reality does not bode well: The command is either for obligation, or for permissibility, or for permissibility rather than obligation. The answer is: No. This is because no one—this is related to the third bundle of the Companions of the Messenger and the path of the believers—this command is understood as recommended, or as permissible, because the default is that the blood of a Muslim is not lawful except by one of three things, and this person who has drunk intoxicants for the fourth time is not among those three. To reconcile that hadith with this hadith, it is understood as the permissibility of killing the drinker on the fourth time if the Muslim ruler sees that there is a public benefit for the Muslim community in that. Let us suppose now: that a Muslim ruler, whom Allah has saved these Muslims through, began to apply the Shari'ah rulings and announced to the people that whoever drinks intoxicants will be flogged. This is for one who is aware of the Shari'ah policy. If it reaches him that a man has drunk four times, and is flogged every time he drinks, and does not repent at all, does he execute this order? Why? Because this society, which is newly established under this new Islamic ruling, has not yet been raised and has not yet been informed of the Shari'ah rulings; therefore, this ruling is not carried out because, first, it is not in the sense of being obligatory, and second, because the Shari'ah policy does not require the execution of this Shari'ah ruling, but rather what precedes it. If the Muslim ruler continues to apply the first hudud, which is flogging, and then intoxicants become widespread and the people have not been raised by the lower means, he raises the punishment and announces that whoever drinks for the fourth time will be killed. So, this hadith is related to the Shari'ah policy. Is that clear? This is the answer.
The student : O our brothers, let the voice be quiet now, let us return to the questions.