Hadith of Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه Regarding a Non-Married Slave Woman Committing Zina
Narrated by Mālik from Ibn Shihāb from ʿUbaydullāh ibn ʿAbdullāh from Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was asked about a slave woman who committed zina and was not married. He said:
"If she commits zina, then lash her. If she commits it again, then lash her again. If she repeats it a third time, then lash her again. Then sell her, even if it is for a rope of hair."
Ibn Shihāb said: "I do not know whether it was after the third or fourth time."
(Reported in Bukhārī 6838, 6837 and Muslim 1703)
Key Points and Rulings
❶ If a non-married slave woman commits zina, she is to be lashed fifty times.❷ The punishment for a slave woman is half of that for a free woman.
❸ Even if she is considered "muḥṣanah" (married), she is not to be stoned, but only lashed.
❹ If the slave woman commits zina repeatedly, then each time the prescribed punishment (ḥadd) will be carried out. After the third or fourth instance, she should be sold—even at a very low price (e.g., for a single hair rope). This shows that zina can become a persistent habit.
This content is derived from the book "Ḍiyāʾ al-Islām fī Sharḥ al-Imām bi-Aḥādīth al-Aḥkām" by Shaykh Taqī ad-Dīn Abī al-Fatḥ, translated by Mawlānā Maḥmūd Aḥmad Ghaḍanfar.