– ʿaqalnāhā: ʿaqala/yaʿqilu/ʿaqlan—he understood something and reflected upon it.
– farīḍah: on the pattern faʿīlah. Al-Nihāyah explains that the root farḍ means “to cut or demarcate,” and it is used for every obligatory duty legislated by Allah.
– al-bayyina: whatever makes the truth plain and manifest from among the proofs.
– al-ḥabl: it is said ḥabalat al-marʾah, “the woman conceived,” so she is ḥublā. The noun ḥabal (with two fatḥahs) denotes pregnancy.

What is drawn from the ḥadith:
1 – Fornication is a major sin, for Allah says, “Do not approach unlawful sexual intercourse. Indeed, it is ever an immorality and an evil way” (17:32). At first its punishment was confinement to the house, as in His words: “Those of your women who commit immorality, call upon four of you to witness against them; then if they testify, confine them to their houses until death takes them…” (4:15). This ruling was later abrogated by the ḥadith of ʿUbādah cited in this chapter. The sound position is that the Qurʾan may be abrogated by the Sunnah, for both come from Allah, though the mode of conveyance differs.
2 – Allah revealed the verse of rajm (stoning) in His Book, the wording of which was: “Al-shaykh waʾl-shaykhah idhā zanayā farjumūhumā al-battata nakālan min Allāh wa-Allāhu ʿazīz ḥakīm—Should the elderly man and elderly woman commit fornication, stone them both outright as a deterrent decree from Allah; and Allah is Mighty, Wise.” The Commander of the Believers ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Allah sent Muhammad with the truth and revealed to him the Book, and among what He revealed was the verse of rajm. We recited it, memorised it, and comprehended it. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ carried out stoning, and we did so after him. Ibn Kathīr states in his Tafsīr that the verse had once been written, its recitation was later abrogated, yet its ruling remained operative.
3 – Rajm is inflicted only upon the muḥṣan offender. A person attains iḥṣān when he has had intercourse with his lawfully wedded spouse—even a Jewish or Christian wife—in a valid marriage, in the vagina, and both spouses are legally competent adults and free. If any one of these conditions is absent, neither party is deemed muḥṣan.