865 – Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The flogged fornicator may marry only someone like himself.” It was narrated by Ahmad and Abu Dawud, and its transmitters are trustworthy. (1)

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Hadith grading:
This hadith is authentic. Ibn Ḥajar said, “Its narrators are reliable.” Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī wrote in al-Muḥarrar, “Its chain is sound up to ʿAmr, and he is a reliable authority according to the majority.” Al-Ḥākim declared it authentic and al-Dhahabī concurred.

Vocabulary:
• al-zānī al-majlūd: al-zānī is the one who has committed the sin of fornication; al-majlūd is the person upon whom the ḥadd (prescribed punishment) for fornication has been carried out. The description here is prevalent, not absolute.

Points derived from the hadith:

1. Linguistically, nikāḥ denotes both intercourse and the marriage contract. Here what the flogged man does is called nikāḥ figuratively, not literally, because it has been made the pathway to intercourse.
2. The stronger view is that the hadith is meant to vilify fornication: it does not occur between a chaste man and a chaste woman; rather, it occurs between a man accustomed to fornication and a woman like him—one who grants illicit intercourse and is herself a fornicator.
3. This understanding of the hadith is the preferred interpretation of the noble verse: “The fornicator does not marry except a woman who is also a fornicator or an idolatress, and the woman who fornicates—no one marries her except a fornicator or an idolater; and that is forbidden to the believers” (Sūrah al-Nūr 24:3).