zina?” He said, “Yes. I did to her unlawfully what a man lawfully does with his wife.” (1)

In a narration recorded by Abu Dawud: “Until that of yours disappeared into that of hers?” He said, “Yes.” He then said, “As a bucket-rope disappears into a well, and a kohl-stick into its container?” He said, “Yes.” (2) This is clear and explicit, both in its wording and in the analogy drawn. All of this shows that the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, wished to verify the matter with this man and ascertain whether or not he understood what zina was. Thus, he must explicitly mention the actual intercourse.

The reasoning is clear: he may think that something which is not zina is zina and entails the prescribed punishment; hence, explicitness was stipulated.

His words, “and he must not retract his confession until the prescribed punishment has been carried out”: this is the third condition—that he must not retract his confession, meaning that he must not withdraw it before the prescribed punishment has been carried out. If he retracts his confession, it is prohibited to carry out the prescribed punishment on him, even if this occurs while the punishment is being administered. If he says that he did not commit zina, the punishment must be lifted from him. Even if he wrote out his confession in his own hand four times and then retracted it, his retraction is accepted, and it is not permissible to carry out the punishment on him.

The evidence for this is:

First: when Ma'iz ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, began