Prescribed Punishments (Kitab Al-Hudud)

كتاب الحدود

Chapter 26: The stoning of the two jews

Narrated Al-Bara' ibn Azib

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.

Narrated Abdullah Ibn Umar

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).

Narrated AbuHurayrah

(This is Ma'mar's version which is more accurate.) A man and a woman of the Jews committed fornication.

Some of them said to the others: Let us go to this Prophet, for he has been sent with an easy law. If he gives a judgment lighter than stoning, we shall accept it, and argue about it with Allah, saying: It is a judgment of one of your prophets. So they came to the Prophet (ﷺ) who was sitting in the mosque among his companions.

They said: AbulQasim, what do you think about a man and a woman who committed fornication? He did not speak to them a word till he went to their school.

He stood at the gate and said: I adjure you by Allah Who revealed the Torah to Moses, what (punishment) do you find in the Torah for a person who commits fornication, if he is married?

They said: He shall be blackened with charcoal, taken round a donkey among the people, and flogged. A young man among them kept silent.

When the Prophet (ﷺ) emphatically adjured him, he said: By Allah, since you have adjured us (we inform you that) we find stoning in the Torah (is the punishment for fornication).

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: So when did you lessen the severity of Allah's command? He said:

A relative of one of our kings had committed fornication, but his stoning was suspended. Then a man of a family of common people committed fornication. He was to have been stoned, but his people intervened and said: Our man shall not be stoned until you bring your man and stone him. So they made a compromise on this punishment between them.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: So I decide in accordance with what the Torah says. He then commanded regarding them and they were stoned to death.

Az-Zuhri said: We have been informed that this verse was revealed about them: "It was We Who revealed the Law (to Moses): therein was guidance and light. By its standard have been judged the Jews, by the Prophet who bowed (as in Islam) to Allah's will.

Chapter 28: A man who commits zina with his wife's slave woman

Narrated An-Nu'man ibn Bashir

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: about a man who had (unlawful) intercourse with his wife's slave girl: If she made her lawful for him, he will be flogged one hundred lashes; if she did not make her lawful for him, I shall stone him.

Narrated Salamah ibn al-Muhabbaq

A similar tradition (to the No. 4445) has also been transmitted by Salamah ibn al-Muhabbaq from the Prophet (ﷺ).

This version has: If she asked her to have intercourse with her voluntarily, then she and a similar slave-girl would be given to her mistress from his property.

Chapter 29: One who does the action of the people of Lut

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If you find anyone doing as Lot's people did, kill the one who does it, and the one to whom it is done.

Abu Dawud said: A similar tradition has also been transmitted by Sulaiman b. Bilal from 'Amr b. Abi 'Umar. And 'Abbad b. Mansur transmitted it from 'Ikrimah on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas who transmitted it from the Prophet (ﷺ). It has also been transmitted by Ibn Juraij from Ibrahim from Dawud b. Al-Husain from 'Ikrimah on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas who transmitted it from the Prophet (ﷺ).

Chapter 32: A man who does something less than intercourse with a woman, and repents before he is arrested by the imam.

‘Abd Allah (b. Mas’ud) said

A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: I contacted directly a women at the furthest part of the city (i.e., Medina), and I did with her everything except sexual intercourse. So here I am; inflict any punishment you wish. Thereupon ‘Umar said: Allah has concealed your fault; it would have been better if you also had concealed it yourself. The Prophet (ﷺ) sent a men after him. (When he came) he recited the verse: “And establish regular prayers at the two ends of the day and at the approaches of the night. . .” up to the end of the verse. A man from the people got up and asked: Is it particular to him, Messenger of Allah, or for the people in general? He replied: It is all the people.

Chapter 24: Stoning of Ma'iz bin Malik

Narrated Sahl ibn Sa'd

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.

Chapter 26: The stoning of the two jews

A similar tradition has also been transmitted by Ibrahim and al-Sha’bi from the Prophet (ﷺ) through a different chain of narrators. But this version does not mention the words

He called the witnesses who testified.

Chapter 27: A man who commits zina with a mahram relative

Narrated Al-Bara' ibn Azib

while I was wandering in search of my camels which had strayed, a caravan or some horsemen carrying a standard came forward. The bedouin began to go round me for my position with the Prophet (ﷺ). They came to a domed structure, took out a man from it, and struck his neck. I asked about him. They told me that he had married his father's wife.

Chapter 29: One who does the action of the people of Lut

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas

If a man who is not married is seized committing sodomy, he will be stoned to death.

Abu Dawud said: The tradition of 'Asim proved the tradition of 'Amir b. Abi 'Amr as weak.

Chapter 30: One who has intercourse with an animal

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone has sexual intercourse with an animal, kill him and kill it along with him. I (Ikrimah) said: I asked him (Ibn Abbas): What offence can be attributed to the animal/ He replied: I think he (the Prophet) disapproved of its flesh being eaten when such a thing had been done to it.

Abu Dawud said: This is not a strong tradition.

Chapter 24: Stoning of Ma'iz bin Malik

A part of tradition has also been transmitted by al-Lajlaj from the Prophet (ﷺ) through a different chain of narrators.

Chapter 25: Regarding the woman of Juhainah whom the prophet (pbuh) ordered to be stoned

Narrated Imran ibn Husayn

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.

Chapter 26: The stoning of the two jews

Ibn ‘Umar said

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.

Abu Hurairah said

A man and a woman of the Jews who were married committed fornication at the time when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came to Medina. Stoning was a prescribed punishment for them in accordance with the Torah, but they abandoned it and followed tajbiyyah, meaning, the man was beaten a hundred times with a rope painted with tar and was seated on a donkey with his face towards the tail of the donkey. Their rabbis then assembled and sent some people to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). They said to them: Ask him about the prescribed punishment for fornication. The transmitter then mentioned the rest of the tradition. They version adds: They were not the followers of his religion, and he (the prophet) was to pronounce judgment between them. So he was given a choice in this verse:”If they do come to thee, either judge between them, or decline to interfere.

Chapter 27: A man who commits zina with a mahram relative

Narrated Al-Bara' ibn Azib

I met my uncle who was carrying a standard. I asked him: Where are you going? He said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) has sent me to a man who has married his father's wife. He has ordered me to cut off his head and take his property.

Chapter 30: One who has intercourse with an animal

'Asim reported from Abu Razin on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas saying

Abu Dawud said: 'Ata is also so. Al Hakam said: I think he should be flogged, but the number should not reach the one of the prescribed punishment. Al-Hasan said: He is like a fornicator.

Abu Dawud said: THe tradition of 'Asim proves the tradition of 'Amr b. Abi 'Amr as weak.

Chapter 31: If the man confess to zina but the woman does not

Narrated Sahl ibn Sa'd

A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and made acknowledgment before him that he had committed fornication with a woman whom he named. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sent someone to the woman and he asked her about it. She denied that she had committed fornication. So he gave him the prescribed punishment of lashes and left her.

Chapter 33: A slave girl commits zina and has not been married

Abu Hurairah and Zaid b. Khalid al-Juhani said

Ibn Shihab: I do not know whether he (the Prophet) said it is a third or a fourth time.