Book of the Prescribed Punishments

630 — They unanimously agree that zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) is forbidden.

631 — They unanimously agree that its prescribed penalty is flogging.

632 — They unanimously agree that when a free man contracts a valid marriage with a free woman(1) and consummates it with vaginal intercourse, he attains the status of muḥṣan; should the two then commit zina, stoning to death becomes obligatory for both of them.

633 — They unanimously agree that a person does not become muḥṣan by the marriage contract alone until the marriage has been consummated.

634 — They unanimously agree that the offender sentenced to stoning must continue to be stoned until death.

635 — They unanimously agree that if a woman confesses to zina while pregnant, she is not to be stoned until she has delivered her child.

636 — They unanimously agree that flogging is to be carried out with a whip, and that the whip used must be of moderate thickness—neither excessively hard nor overly limp.

637 — They unanimously agree that banishment applies to the unmarried fornicator, while al-Nuʿmān and Ibn al-Ḥasan alone diverged, maintaining that such offenders are not to be exiled.

638 — They unanimously agree that whoever commits zina with his maternal aunt, his mother-in-law, or any other relative who is permanently forbidden to him is a fornicator, and the ḥadd penalty is due upon him.

639 — They unanimously agree that the ḥadd penalty is to be averted whenever a plausible doubt exists.

640 — They unanimously agree that if a slave confesses to zina, the ḥadd becomes obligatory upon him, whether his master(2) confirms the confession or denies it.

641 — They unanimously agree that establishing zina by testimony requires four witnesses; fewer than four are not accepted.

642 — They unanimously agree that if a Christian slanders a free Muslim by accusing him of zina, he incurs the same penalty that would befall a Muslim.