There is no man upon whom I carried out a prescribed punishment and he then died for whom I feel anything in my heart, except in the case of wine. For if such a man died, I would pay his blood-money, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not establish a fixed punishment for it.
حدثنا عبد الرحمن عن سفيان عن أبي حصين عن عمير بن سعيد
ما من رجل أقمت عليه حدا فمات فأجد في نفسي إلا الخمر فإنه لو مات لوديته لأن رسول الله ﷺ لم يسنه
Its chain of transmission is sahih. Abu Husayn, with a fatha on the ha, is Uthman bin Aasim al-Asadi, who is trustworthy, a hafiz, and a follower of the sunnah. Umayr bin Saeed is al-Nakhai al-Sahbani, with a damma on the sad and sukun on the ha, and he is trustworthy. In al-Tahdhib it is mentioned that Ibn Hazm went to excess in al-Milal wal-Nihal by claiming that this hadith was fabricated, and that this is among the most disgraceful things that happened from Ibn Hazm, and indeed that is true, for it was merely the slip of a scholar, may Allah have mercy on him.This hadith was also narrated by the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim), as mentioned in al-Muntaqa 4140, as well as by Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, and Nasai in the Musnad of Ali, as mentioned in al-Tahdhib 8:146. It is stated in al-Muntaqa that the meaning of his saying "he did not fix it" is that he did not set or specify its wording and pronunciation.