he is not compelled to do so, according to the sounder opinion.

A male slave receives fifty lashes and is banished for six months; another view extends the exile to one full year, while a third dispenses with it altogether. The ḥadd is established either by valid testimony or by a single confession. If the culprit confesses and then retracts, the punishment is void; but if he says, “Do not punish me,” or absconds, the ḥadd is not dropped, on the sounder view.

If four witnesses testify that a woman committed zinā while another four testify that she is still a virgin, neither she nor her accuser is punished. Likewise, if one witness identifies a particular woman as his partner in the act and the remaining witnesses name someone else, the charge is not proven.

The sentence is carried out by the ruler or his deputy with respect to both the free person and the partially emancipated slave, and it is recommended that the ruler himself and the witnesses be present. A slave may be punished either by his master or by the ruler; if the two dispute the matter, the stronger view is that the ruler administers the punishment, whereas the master is the one who exiles him. A mukātib is treated like a free man, and an openly sinful Muslim, a non-Muslim, or a mukātib may inflict the ḥadd on their own slaves. The master, however, is subject to discretionary chastisement, and testimony about the manner in which the punishment was carried out is admissible.

Stoning is performed with clods of clay and medium-sized stones. No pit is dug for a man; the sounder view is that it is recommended to dig one for a woman when guilt has been established by testimony. The execution is not postponed because of illness or extreme heat or cold, although one opinion allows a delay when conviction rests on a confession.

Flogging is deferred for illness. If recovery is not expected, the lashes are delivered not with a whip but with a bundle containing one hundred twigs; when the prescribed number is fifty, he is struck with it twice. The twigs must touch the body, or they may be bound together so that some pain is felt; if he later recovers, what has already been done suffices. No flogging is carried out during excessive heat or cold. Should the ruler nonetheless administer the lashes during illness, heat, or cold, the explicit ruling is that he bears no liability, indicating that postponement is merely recommended.