The unmarried and the previously married: what is done with them if they commit zina?

Ubaydullah bin Abdullah reports that Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah and Sayyiduna Zayd bin Khalid (may Allah be pleased with them both) and Shibl all said: We were with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when a man stood up and said: I adjure you (peace and blessings be upon him) by Allah to judge between us according to the Book of Allah. Then his opponent, who had more understanding than the first, also said: Judge (peace and blessings be upon him) between us according to the Book of Allah, and grant (peace and blessings be upon him) me permission to speak. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Speak. He said: My son was a hired servant of this man, and he committed adultery with his wife, so I gave him one hundred goats and a servant as a ransom and freed my child. Then I asked the scholars about this, and they informed me that my son is to receive the punishment of one hundred lashes and exile for one year, and that this woman is to receive the punishment of stoning. At this the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: By the One in whose hand is my soul, I shall certainly judge between you according to the Book of Allah: the one hundred goats and the servant are to be returned to you, and your son is to receive the punishment of one hundred lashes and exile for one year. And O Unays, go to this woman, and if she confesses, stone her.

Sayyiduna Ubadah bin al-Samit (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Take the ruling from me! Allah has appointed a way for them: a married person with a married person, and an unmarried person with an unmarried person, in this way: the unmarried person is to be flogged and exiled, and the married person is to be flogged and stoned.

Masruq said: Sayyiduna Ubayy (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When two unmarried people commit zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), they are both to be flogged and exiled, and when two married people commit zina, they are both to be flogged and stoned.

Al-Sha'bi said: Sayyiduna Ubayy (may Allah be pleased with him) held the view concerning a married person that he is to be flogged and stoned.

Muslim said: Masruq said: An unmarried man and woman are both to be flogged and exiled, and a married man and woman are both to be flogged and stoned.

Al-Sha'bi said: Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) flogged and stoned.

Ibn Sirin said: Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) used to stone and flog, and Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) also used to stone and flog.

Al-Qasim said: Sayyiduna Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: An elderly married man and woman are both to be flogged and both to be stoned, and an unmarried man and woman are both to be flogged and both to be exiled.

Ibn Tawus said that his father Tawus said: When a married person commits zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), the punishment of stoning is to be carried out on him, and on an unmarried person the punishment of flogging and exile is to be carried out.

Muhammad bin Salim said: It is narrated from Amir concerning an unmarried person that, when he commits zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), he is to be exiled for one year.

Abd al-Rahman said: Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) flogged and stoned. He flogged on Thursday and stoned on Friday.

Sayyiduna Jabir bin Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stoned Ma'iz bin Malik, and the narrator did not mention flogging.

Safiyyah bint Abi Ubayd said: Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) flogged a man who had had intercourse with a virgin slave girl and made her pregnant; he had confessed, and he was unmarried. So by the order of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr he was flogged and then exiled.