and for the previously married man with the previously married woman, one hundred lashes and stoning.” (1) This hadith is authentic, and thus the Prophet ﷺ combined stoning and flogging.

Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “I flog her according to the Book of Allah, and stone her according to the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” (2)

Those who held that stoning and flogging are not to be combined argued that the latter was the final practice of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: he stoned the Ghamidiyyah but did not flog her (3), and he said concerning the wife of the man whose employee had committed adultery with her: “Go, Unays, to this man’s wife; if she confesses, then stone her.” (4) He did not mention flogging.

He also stoned Ma'iz ibn Malik without flogging him. (5) Moreover, there is no need for flogging when stoning is prescribed, except as mere torture. For once a person deserving of stoning is stoned, his life is ended; there is therefore no need to punish him first and then stone him. This view is the stronger one, and it is the well-known position in the school of Imam Ahmad.

As for the evidence cited for the first view, the response is that flogging was abrogated.

His statement, “He is stoned until he dies”: the word “until” here indicates the endpoint, not the reason. Thus, he is stoned until he dies and his death is confirmed. If he dies, should he be washed, shrouded, prayed over, and buried among the Muslims? The answer is yes, because he