Punishment of a Married Fornicator: Disagreement on Stoning and Lashing
By: Imrān Ayyūb Lāhorī
❶ Prophetic Ḥadīth
The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:
“Al-thayyibu bi-l-thayyib jald mi’ah wa al-rajm.”
“If a married man commits fornication with a married woman, then he is to be flogged one hundred lashes and then stoned to death.”
[Muslim: 1690, Kitāb al-Ḥudūd: Bāb Ḥadd al-Zinā]
❷ The Case of Māʿiz al-Aslamī (RA)
Abū Hurayrah (RA) narrated:
Māʿiz came to the Prophet ﷺ in the mosque, confessing four times that he had committed fornication. The Prophet ﷺ asked him:
“Abika junūn?” – “Are you insane?”
He replied: “No.”
The Prophet ﷺ asked: “Fahal aḥṣanta?” – “Are you married?”
He said: “Yes.”
The Prophet ﷺ then commanded:
“Idhhabū bihi farjumūh.”
“Take him away and stone him.”
[al-Bukhārī: 6824; Muslim: 1693]
❸ The Case of the Ghamīdiyyah Woman
A Ghamīdiyyah woman who confessed to zinā while married was also stoned by the Prophet ﷺ.
[Muslim: 1695, Kitāb al-Ḥudūd]
❹ The Abrogated Verse of Rajm
The verse was revealed but its recitation was abrogated while its ruling remains:
“Al-shaykh wa al-shaykhah idhā zanayā farjumūhumā.”
“When an old man and an old woman commit fornication, stone them.”
[al-Ṭabarānī al-Kabīr: 24/350; al-Ḥākim: 4/359; Majmaʿ al-Zawā’id: 6/268 – authenticated by al-Ḥākim and al-Dhahabī]
Do Lashes Precede Stoning?
- The Majority (Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, Abū Ḥanīfah):
Only stoning is carried out. They cite the cases of Māʿiz and the Ghamīdiyyah woman, where only rajm was applied. - Aḥmad, Isḥāq, and Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī:
Both flogging and stoning are required, citing the narration that mentions both punishments. - Imām al-Shawkānī:
Both lashing and stoning are applied. The absence of mention in some narrations does not negate its occurrence.
[Nayl al-Awṭār: 4/537; Sabil al-Salām: 4/1673; Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 4/808–809] - ʿAlī (RA):
He ordered a woman to be flogged on Thursday and stoned on Friday, saying:
“Jaldtuhā bi-Kitābillāh wa rajamtuhā bi-Sunnati Rasūlillāh.”
“I lashed her according to the Book of Allāh, and I stoned her according to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ.”
[Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 4/809; Sabil al-Salām: 4/1673; Nayl al-Awṭār: 4/538] - Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān (رحمه الله):
It is permissible for the Imām to administer both flogging and stoning together, though it is better to carry out only stoning.
[al-Rawḍah al-Nadiyyah: 2/578]
Summary:- The agreed-upon punishment for a married fornicator is stoning (rajm).
- There is scholarly difference whether lashing is also included before rajm.
- The strongest narrations establish rajm without lashes, though some scholars—including al-Shawkānī—affirm the combination based on additional evidence.
