when He mentioned the women of the People of the Book, whereas in Sūrat al-Nisā’ He mentioned only “not fornicators.” This is because slave women, unlike free women, were known for fornication. He therefore stipulated that, for them to be married, they must be chaste, neither engaging in fornication nor taking secret lovers. This also indicates that a slave woman who engages in prostitution may not be married unless she is married on the basis that she will be chaste, with her husband safeguarding her chastity, so that she neither commits fornication with men nor takes a lover. Alongside what has already been discussed, this is among the clearest indications that marrying an unchaste slave woman is forbidden.

It is related from Ibn ʿAbbās that he explained “chaste women” as women who are virtuous, not fornicators, and “nor taking secret lovers” as meaning intimate companions. The people of pre-Islamic ignorance regarded open fornication as forbidden but considered what was concealed permissible.

Another report from him states:

“Women engaging in fornication” are those who do so openly, while “those taking secret lovers” are women who each have a single lover.

Some Quran commentators said:

“A woman would take a lover with whom she committed fornication, but she would not do so with anyone else.”

Thus Ibn ʿAbbās and others among the early generations explained “chaste women” as virtuous women, and their explanation is correct. They mentioned that fornication in pre-Islamic times was of two kinds: one involving multiple partners and another confined to a single partner. The former was ordinarily open, whereas the latter was ordinarily concealed. Since Allah prohibited the latter, which resembles marriage—for in marriage a woman is exclusively bound to one man—it became necessary to distinguish lawful marriage from the forbidden practice of taking secret lovers. For if he commits fornication with this woman alone, he cannot know that no other man has had intercourse with her, nor can he know that the child she bears is his; nor do the distinctive provisions of marriage apply to her.

For this reason, ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb used to administer beatings for “secret marriage.” Secret marriage is akin to taking secret lovers and resembles it, especially if she marries herself off without a guardian or witnesses