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Surah: An-Nur (2)
"The Fornicating Woman and Man" — The First Prescribed Hadd in Islam
ٱلزَّانِيَةُ وَٱلزَّانِي فَٱجۡلِدُواْ كُلَّ وَٰحِدٍ مِّنۡهُمَا مِاْئَةَ جَلۡدَةٍ
— النور الآية 2
Verse: "The fornicating woman and fornicating man — lash each one of them one hundred lashes." (24:2)
Occasion (Hasan): Ibn Abbas narrated: a man and woman from the Bedouins came to the Prophet having committed fornication. The Prophet asked the People of the Book and found stoning in the Torah — the verse of Surah An-Nur was then revealed prescribing flogging for the unmarried, establishing independent Islamic law.
Fiqh note: Flogging is the hadd for the unmarried — the married person's hadd is stoning by established Prophetic Sunnah.
Occasion (Hasan): Ibn Abbas narrated: a man and woman from the Bedouins came to the Prophet having committed fornication. The Prophet asked the People of the Book and found stoning in the Torah — the verse of Surah An-Nur was then revealed prescribing flogging for the unmarried, establishing independent Islamic law.
Fiqh note: Flogging is the hadd for the unmarried — the married person's hadd is stoning by established Prophetic Sunnah.
Source: Tafsir Ibn Abi Hatim; Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi; Lubab Al-Nuqul
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What is the difference between the fornication penalty in the Torah and what the Quran prescribed for the unmarried?
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