and they do not take the life that Allah has made sacred—whether it be the life of a Muslim or of a non-Muslim living under covenant—except with due right, such as retaliation for murder, the execution of a married adulterer, or the lawful killing of one who abandons his religion and breaks away from the community. Nor do they commit adultery. ‘Whoever does that’—that is, the acts just mentioned: associating partners with Allah, killing a protected soul, or committing adultery—‘will meet a penalty; his punishment will be multiplied for him on the Day of Resurrection and he will remain therein, humiliated’ (25:68-69).

The threat of eternal residence in the Fire for whoever commits all three is established by the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the ummah. The same eternal threat holds for the one who commits shirk. Severe torment is likewise promised for each of these three individually, for every one of them is among the gravest of the major sins.

As for the unjust killer or the adulterer remaining forever in punishment, the Qur’anic texts and the mass-transmitted prophetic hadiths show that every believer—should he enter the Fire—will eventually be brought out of it, and no believer will stay there eternally. Perfect faith prevents entry altogether, and even the merest trace of faith, the weight of a mustard seed, prevents everlasting stay, as mentioned earlier.

Allah singled out these three because their corruption is immense:
• Shirk ruins religion completely.
• Murder destroys lives.
• Adultery violates honor and lineage.

‘Except for those who repent’ (25:70) from these and all other sins—meaning they immediately abandon them, feel remorse for having committed them, and resolve with firm determination never to return—‘and believe’ in Allah with a sound faith that necessitates fulfilling the obligations and avoiding the prohibitions, ‘and do righteous deeds,’ a phrase that includes every good work, obligatory or recommended.