Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Fatawa 'Alamgiri was compiled between 1664 and 1672 under the direction of Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir. Sheikh Nizam Burhanpuri served as chairman to lead a commission of five hundred scholars from South Asia, Iraq, and the Hejaz.
The Fatawa 'Alamgiri establishes distinct categories for social classes where noble ulama and Sayyids were exempted from physical punishments entirely. Lower classes suffered humiliation, physical punishment, and imprisonment while middle-class individuals faced only humiliation and prison without beatings.
English-speaking judges relied heavily on Muslim law specialist elites because the original Arabic text remained inaccessible during the late 18th century. Charles Hamilton and William Jones translated parts of the document into English while Neil Baillie published A Digest of Mohummudan Law in 1865 through Smith Elder London.
Modern historians note that the work is actually a mabsūts style genre compiling statements from earlier texts rather than a simple collection of fatwas. Jamal Malik argues the document stiffened social stratification among Muslims and broke from traditional consensus regarding Hanafi Law.
A Muslim man with four wives must treat all of them justly and equally according to these rulings while slaves require master permission before they could marry each other. The guardian of a Muslim girl may arrange her marriage with her consent while a boy requires his guardian's permission.