Ruling on Smuggling Permissible Goods

Question: The following message is from Sudan as well, and its sender is our brother Abdul-Khaliq Mashdud Abdul-Wahhab from the Cement Company in Atayirah, it seems. Our brother offers high praise in the introduction of his message and poses some questions. His first question is: What is the Islamic ruling on smuggling ordinary goods, not forbidden ones?

Answer: It is not permissible for a man, nor for anyone else, to smuggle goods that the state has prohibited. He has no right to smuggle. If the goods are forbidden, the sin becomes even greater, because smuggling harms people, harms his brothers in buying and selling, and defies the state. The Muslim is commanded to obey and listen in what is right, and this is part of what is right, because the state may see the public benefit in doing so.
The point is that he has no right to smuggle. As for what is forbidden, such as narcotics, types of intoxicants, and the like of what Allah has forbidden, it is not permissible to bring it in, even without smuggling, so how much less with smuggling? It is forbidden in every case. We ask Allah for safety. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good. What is the ruling, O Shaykh, for one who does this?
The Shaykh: He deserves to be punished with whatever the one in authority deems appropriate, because Allah uses punishments to deter people from committing crimes. Uthman ibn 'Affan, the rightly guided caliph (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Indeed, Allah restrains by means of authority what He does not restrain by means of the Qur'an."
Many people are not deterred by their faith, nor by their fear of Allah, but only by the authority’s punishment, the punishment in their wealth or their bodies, such as imprisonment, yes, and the like.
The presenter: May Allah bless you. The reality, O Shaykh, is a feature by which Islam is distinguished, and perhaps this is an opportunity for you to explain it and shed light on it. That feature is establishing a clear and explicit constitution and broad powers for the one in authority so that he may adopt the rulings that benefit the community?
The Shaykh: Yes, in the matter of discretionary punishments by which Allah benefits the Muslims, and in the matter of regulations by which Allah benefits the Muslims, these are left to the one in authority. He establishes a traffic system, he establishes another system that does not contradict the Shari’ah regarding buying and selling and the like in the markets, and in other matters that do not contradict the Shari’ah, and so on. As for the punishments that deter people from sins for which there are no fixed Qur’anic punishments, he may establish what he sees as appropriate, and he must consult the scholars in that matter so that he may establish the appropriate punishment for the crime that warrants it.