– afqahu minhu (more learned than he): Linguistically, fiqh means understanding, as in Allah’s words, “and loosen the knot from my tongue so that they may understand my speech” (Taha 27–28). The conjunction wa here is circumstantial; it may indicate that he was generally more knowledgeable, or only more knowledgeable in this particular case.

– ʿasīfan (a hired laborer): with a fatḥah on the ʿayn and a kasrah on the sīn, on the faʿīl pattern with the meaning of mafʿūl. An ʿasīf is a worker engaged for wages; its plurals are ʿusafāʾ and ʿusafa.

– ʿalā hādhā: The linguists say that the phrase “ʿalā hādhā” is used because the wages are a liability upon the employer, unlike “ʿasīfan li-hādhā,” which would highlight the service owed by the laborer. Thus “ʿalā hādhā” distinguishes the employee and affirms that his wages are due from that man.

– iftadaytu minhu (I ransomed him): i.e., I freed my son from the sentence of stoning in exchange for one hundred sheep and a slave-girl.

– walīdah: a young female slave.

– la-aqḍiyanna baynakumā bi-kitābillāh: that is, according to Allah’s ruling, for the Qur’an contains no explicit mention of stoning.

– faqḍ: the prefixed faʾ introduces the apodosis of an omitted condition: “If he agrees with what you have proposed, then judge.” A word of affirmation is thus placed where a conditional particle would normally appear.

– taghrīb ʿām (banishment for a year): Literally, taghrīb is sending someone on a distant journey; in legal usage it means exiling the offender from his homeland for a full year.

– ighdu yā Unays: ighdu comes from ghadā–yaghdu (with ghayn) meaning to go out in the morning; some hold it simply means to depart. Here it means: “Set out for her early in the morning.”

– Unays: the diminutive of Anas; he is Unays ibn al-Dahhāk al-Aslamī, whom the Prophet ﷺ appointed for this task.