Bayhaqi 17065 — Reports on averting prescribed punishments in cases

Yahya bin Hatib (may Allah have mercy on him) said: When Sayyiduna Hatib (may Allah be pleased with him) died, those of his slaves who prayed and fasted were set free. He had a Nubian slave-girl who prayed and fasted; she was non-Arab and did not understand (things). Nothing alarmed him except her pregnancy, and she had been previously married. So he went to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and told him, and he said: "You are surely a man who never brings good news!" That frightened him. Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) sent for her and asked: "Are you pregnant?" She said: "Yes, from Marghush, for two dirhams." She was declaring it openly, not concealing it. The narrator said: It happened that Sayyiduna Ali, Sayyiduna Uthman and Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with them) were present. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Advise me." Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was sitting, and he lay down. Sayyiduna Ali and Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "The hadd has become due on her." He said: "Advise me, O Uthman." He said: "Your two brothers have advised you." He said: "You advise me." He said: "I see her declaring it openly as though she does not know (that it is forbidden), and the hadd is only upon one who knows it." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "You have spoken the truth. By the One in whose hand my soul is, the hadd is only upon one who knows it." So Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) flogged her a hundred lashes and banished her for a year.
The Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Her hadd was stoning, so it seems that he (may Allah be pleased with him) averted the hadd from her because of the doubt arising from ignorance, and flogged and banished her as a discretionary punishment (ta'zir), and Allah knows best.