"The Fornicating Woman and Man" — The First Prescribed Hadd in Islam
asbab
Level: advanced
madani-events
as-084
ٱلزَّانِيَةُ وَٱلزَّانِي فَٱجۡلِدُواْ كُلَّ وَٰحِدٍ مِّنۡهُمَا مِاْئَةَ جَلۡدَةٍ
— النور 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.
Source: Tafsir Ibn Abi Hatim; Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi; Lubab Al-Nuqul
Question: What is the difference between the fornication penalty in the Torah and what the Quran prescribed for the unmarried?
Answer: Torah: stoning. Quran for the unmarried: one hundred lashes. Married: stoning by Prophetic Sunnah. Islam came with an independent law.