to use very small stones, for they would merely torment him and prolong his death. Rather, the stones must be of moderate size, so that he feels the pain and then dies.

If someone says, “Did not the Prophet ﷺ declare, ‘When you kill, do it well, and when you slaughter, slaughter well’? Killing with a sword is surely easier for the person than stoning him with rocks.”

We reply: Indeed, the Messenger ﷺ did say that. Yet doing the killing well means carrying it out in the manner laid down by the Sacred Law. Stoning is therefore an act of excellence, precisely because it conforms to the law. For the same reason, if a criminal intentionally murders a person and tortures him before killing him, we may—when we apply retribution—inflict on that murderer the same treatment before putting him to death.

For example, if a killer cut off his victim’s hands, then his legs, then his tongue, and finally his head, we would not execute the murderer with a single sword-stroke. Rather, we would cut off his hands, then his legs, then his tongue, and finally his head, exactly as he had done. This, too, counts as “doing the killing well,” because true excellence in killing is to implement the law in whatever form it prescribes.

This hadith also shows that a person may lawfully confess adultery against himself, not to expose his shame, but to purify himself through the ḥadd (prescribed punishment). Therefore, one who admits his fornication to the ruler or the ruler’s deputy solely so that the ḥadd can be carried out upon him is neither blameworthy nor censured.