(32) “Do not approach unlawful sexual intercourse. It is truly a shameful deed and an evil way.”

The prohibition against approaching it is more emphatic than a prohibition against merely committing it, for it encompasses every act that leads to it and every enticement toward it. Indeed, “Whoever circles around a protected enclosure is liable to fall into it,” especially in the case of this deed, toward which many souls feel a powerful urge.

Allah describes the vileness of unlawful sexual intercourse by saying that “it is truly a shameful deed”—that is, a sin deemed abhorrent by divine law, reason, and sound human nature. This is because it entails brazenly violating the sanctity of Allah’s rights, the woman’s rights, and the rights of her family or husband; corrupting the marital bed; confusing lineages; and causing many other evils.

His words, “and an evil way,” mean: Wretched indeed is the way of one who dares to commit this grave sin.