The muḥṣan whose adultery warrants stoning is the one who has had sexual intercourse with his Muslim or dhimmī wife in a valid marriage, while both spouses are adult, sane, and free. Should any one of these requirements be missing for either spouse, the status of iḥṣān is not established.
The conditions may be summarized as follows:
- Actual vaginal intercourse must have taken place.
- That intercourse occurred within a valid marriage contract.
- Each spouse enjoys full legal competence—that is, both are adult, free, and of sound mind.
The previously married offender is singled out for stoning because he has already entered marriage, learned thereby how lawful intimacy safeguards him from forbidden relations, and become self-sufficient. He therefore has every means to avoid the ḥadd of zinā; all excuses have been removed, and the blessing of Allah has been perfected for him. When the blessing is complete, a transgression becomes uglier and thus more deserving of a harsher penalty.
If a legally accountable, free person who is not muḥṣan commits adultery, he is to be flogged one hundred lashes, in accordance with the verse: “The adulteress and the adulterer—flog each of them a hundred lashes” (Quran 24:2). For such an offender, the capital punishment prescribed for the muḥṣan is lightened to flogging because he has a mitigating excuse; his life is spared, yet he is deterred from zinā by the severest form of corporal punishment, namely striking the skin. Allah the Exalted says, “And let no compassion for them keep you from carrying out Allah’s law, if you truly believe in Allah and the Last Day” (Quran 24:2). True faith demands firmness in religion and diligence in applying its rulings.
Along with flogging, the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ establishes banishment for one full year, as reported in the hadith