Prescribed Punishments (Kitab Al-Hudud)
كتاب الحدود
Chapter 24: Stoning of Ma'iz bin Malik
A man of the tribe of Asalam came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and made confession of fornication. He (the prophet) turned away from him. When he testified against him four times, the Prophet (ﷺ) said: Are you mad? He said: No. he asked: Are you married? He replied: Yes. The Prophet (ﷺ) then commanded regarding him and he was stoned in the place of prayer. Then when the stones hurt him, he fled, but was overtaken and stoned to death. The Prophet (ﷺ) then spoke well of him and did not pray over him.
When the Prophet (May peace e upon him) commanded to stone Ma’iz b. Malik, we took him out to Baql. I swear by Allah, we did not tie him, nor did we dig a pit for him. But he was standing before us. The narrator Abu Kamil said: So we threw at him bones, clods of mud and pieces of earthenware. He ran away and we ran after him till he came to a side of the Harrah. He stood there before us and we threw at him big stones of the Harrah until he died. He (the Prophet) did not ask forgiveness for him, nor did he speak ill of him.
A man came to Prophet (ﷺ). He then mentioned a similar tradition but not completely. This version has: People began to speak ill of him but he (the Prophet) forbade them. Then they began to ask forgiveness from him, but he forbade them by saying. He is a man who had committed a sin. Allah will call him to account himself.
The Prophet (ﷺ) smelt the breath of Ma’iz.
We, the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), used to talk mutually: Would that al-Ghamidiyyah and Ma'iz ibn Malik had withdrawn after their confession; or he said: Had they not withdrawn after their confession, he would not have pursued them (for punishment). He had them stoned after the fourth (confession).
I was working in the market. A woman passed carrying a child. The people rushed towards her, and I also rushed along with them.
I then went to the Prophet (ﷺ) while he was asking: Who is the father of this (child) who is with you? She remained silent.
A young man by her side said: I am his father, Messenger of Allah!
He then turned towards her and asked: Who is the father of this child with you?
The young man said: I am his father, Messenger of Allah! The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then looked at some of those who were around him and asked them about him. They said: We only know good (about him).
The Prophet (ﷺ) said to him: Are you married? He said: Yes. So he gave orders regarding him and he was stoned to death.
He (the narrator) said: We took him out, dug a pit for him and put him in it. We then threw stones at him until he died. A man then came asking about the man who was stoned.
We brought him to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: This man has come asking about the wicked man.
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: He is more agreeable than the fragrance of musk in the eyes of Allah. The man was his father. We then helped him in washing, shrouding and burying him. (The narrator said:) I do not know whether he said or did not say "in praying over him." This is the tradition of Abdah, and it is more accurate.
A part of tradition has also been transmitted by al-Lajlaj from the Prophet (ﷺ) through a different chain of narrators.
A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and confessed before him that he had committed fornication with a woman whom he named. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sent for the woman and asked her about it. But she denied that she had committed fornication. So he inflicted the prescribed punishment of flogging on him, and let her go.
A man committed fornication with a woman. So the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ordered regarding him and the prescribed punishment of flogging was inflicted on him. He was then informed that he was married. So he commanded regarding him and he was stoned to death.
Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been transmitted by Muhammad b. Bakr al-Barsani from Ibn Juraij as a statement of Jabir, and Abu 'Asim has transmitted it from Ibn Juraid similar to that of Ibn Wahb. He did not mention the Prophet (ﷺ). But he said: A man committed fornication, but did not know that he was married ; so he was flogged. It was then known that he was married, so he was stoned to death.
A man committed fornication with a woman. It was not known that he was married. So he was flogged. It was then known that he was married, so he was stoned to death.
Chapter 25: Regarding the woman of Juhainah whom the prophet (pbuh) ordered to be stoned
A woman belonging to the tribe of Juhaynah (according to the version of Aban) came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said that she had committed fornication and that she was pregnant. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) called her guardian.
Then the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to him: Be good to her, and when she bears a child, bring her (to me). When she gave birth to the child, he brought her (to him). The Prophet (ﷺ) gave orders regarding her, and her clothes were tied to her. He then commanded regarding her and she was stoned to death. He commanded the people (to pray) and they prayed over her.
Thereupon Umar said: Are you praying over her, Messenger of Allah, when she has committed fornication?
He said: By Him in Whose hand my soul is, she has repented to such an extent that if it were divided among the seventy people of Medina, it would have been enough for them all. And what do you find better than the fact that she gave her life.
Aban did not say in his version: Then her clothes were tied to her.
The word shukkta means tied, meaning her clothes were tied on her.
A woman of Ghamid came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: I have committed fornication. He said: Go back. She returned, and on the next day she came to him again, and said: Perhaps you want to send me back as you did to Ma’iz b. Malik. I swear by Allah, I am pregnant. He said to her: Go back. She then returned and came to him the next day. He said to her: Go back until you give birth to a child. She then returned. When she gave birth to a child, she brought the child to him, and said: Here it is! I have given birth to it. He said: Go back, and suckle him until you wean him. When she had weaned him, she brought him (the boy) to him with something in his hand which he was eating. The boy was then given to a certain man of the Muslims and he (the Prophet) commanded regarding her. So a pit was dug for her, and he gave orders about her and she was stoned to death. Khalid was one of those who were throwing stones at her. He threw a stone at her. When a drop blood fell on his cheeks, he abused her. The Prophet (ﷺ) said to him: Gently, Khalid. By Him in whose hand my soul is, she has reported to such an extent that if one who wrongfully takes extra tax were to repent to a like extent, he would be forgiven. Then giving command regarding her, prayed over her and she was buried.
I heard an old man who transmitted from Abu Bakrah on this father's authority that the Prophet (ﷺ) had a woman stoned and a pit was dug up to her breasts.
Abu Dawud said: A man made me understand it from 'Uthman (b. Abi Shaibah)
Abu Dawud said: Al-Ghassani said: Juhainah, Ghamid and Bariq as the same.
A similar tradition has been transmitted by Zakariya b. Salim through a different chain of narrators. This version adds: He (the Prophet) then threw a pebble like a gram at her. He then said: Throw at her and avoid her face. When se died, he took her out and prayed over her. About repentance he said similar to the tradition on Buraidah.
Two men brought a dispute before the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). One of them said: Pronounce judgement between us in accordance with Allah’s Book, Messenger of Allah! The other who had more understanding said: Yes, Messenger of Allah! Pronounce judgement between us in accordance with Allah’s Book, and allow me to speak. He (the Prophet) said: Speak, He then said: My son who was a hired servant with this(man) committed fornication with his wife, and when I was told that my son must be stoned to death, I ransomed him with a hundred sheep and a slave girl of mine; but when I asked the learned, they told me that my son should receive a hundred lashes and be banished for a year, and that stoning to death applied only to man’s wife. The apostle of Allah (ﷺ) replied: By him in whose hand my soul is, I shall certainly pronounce judgment between you in accordance with Allah’s Book. Your sheep and your slave girl must be returned to you, and your son shall receive a hundred lashes and be banished for a year. And he commanded Unias al-Aslami go to that man’s wife, and if she confessed, he should stone her to death. She confessed and he stoned her.
Chapter 26: The stoning of the two jews
some jews came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and mentioned to him that a man and a women of their number had committed fornication. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) asked them: What do you find in the Torah about stoning? They replied: We disgrace them and they should be flogged. ‘Abd Allah b. Salam said: You lie; it contains (instruction for) stoning. So they brought the Torah and spread it out, and one of them put his hand over the verse of stoning and read what preceded it and what followed it. ‘Abd Allah b. Salam said to him: Lift your hand. When he did so, the verse of stoning was seen to be in it. They then said: He has spoken the truth, Muhammad, the verse of stoning is in it. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then gave command regarding them, and they were stoned to death. ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Umar said: I saw the man leaning on the woman protecting her from the stones.
The people passed by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) with a jew whose face blackened with charcoal and he was being taken around. He adjured them by Allah and asked: What is the prescribed punishment for a fornicator in your Divine book? He (the narrator) said: They referred him to a man of them. The Prophet (ﷺ) adjured him and asked: What is the punishment for a fornication in your Divine Book? He replied: Stoning. But fornication spread among our people of rank, so we disliked that a person of rank should be left alone and the punishment be inflicted on one who is lower in rank than him. So we suspended it for us. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then commanded regarding him and he was stoned to death. He then said: O Allah! I am the first to give life to a command of Thy Book which they had killed.
The people passed by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) with a Jew who was blackened with charcoal and who was being flogged.
He called them and said: Is this the prescribed punishment for a fornicator?
They said: Yes. He then called on a learned man among them and asked him: I adjure you by Allah Who revealed the Torah to Moses, do you find this prescribed punishment for a fornicator in your divine Book?
He said: By Allah, no. If you had not adjured me about this, I should not have informed you. We find stoning to be prescribed punishment for a fornicator in our Divine Book. But it (fornication) became frequent in our people of rank; so when we seized a person of rank, we left him alone, and when we seized a weak person, we inflicted the prescribed punishment on him. So we said: Come, let us agree on something which may be enforced equally on people of higher and lower rank. So we agreed to blacken the face of a criminal with charcoal, and flog him, and we abandoned stoning.
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then said: O Allah, I am the first to give life to Thy command which they have killed. So he commanded regarding him (the Jew) and he was stoned to death.
Allah Most High then sent down: "O Apostle, let not those who race one another into unbelief, make thee grieve..." up to "They say: If you are given this, take it, but if not, beware!...." up to "And if any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) unbelievers," about Jews, up to "And if any do fail to judge by (the right of) what Allah hath revealed, they are no better than) wrong-doers" about Jews: and revealed the verses up to "And if any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel." About this he said: This whole verse was revealed about the infidels.
A group of Jews came and invited the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to Quff. So he visited them in their school.
They said: AbulQasim, one of our men has committed fornication with a woman; so pronounce judgment upon them. They placed a cushion for the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who sat on it and said: Bring the Torah. It was then brought. He then withdrew the cushion from beneath him and placed the Torah on it saying: I believed in thee and in Him Who revealed thee.
He then said: Bring me one who is learned among you. Then a young man was brought. The transmitter then mentioned the rest of the tradition of stoning similar to the one transmitted by Malik from Nafi'(No. 4431).