thousands of people; what is meant is three categories. Accordingly, whenever a hadith mentions the number three or seven or the like, the intention is classes of people, not isolated individuals.

These three categories will not be spoken to by Allah on the Day of Resurrection, He will not look at them, He will not purify them, and for them is a painful punishment.

The first: an elderly adulterer. “Elderly” refers to a man of advanced age, and “adulterer” means he committed zina (illicit sexual intercourse). Such a man will not be addressed by Allah on the Day of Resurrection, He will not look at him, He will not purify him, and he will suffer a grievous torment. The reason is that when an aged person commits zina, no overpowering desire is forcing him to do so.

A youth may be driven by a strong urge and find it difficult to restrain himself, but an old man’s desire has cooled, vanished, or at least greatly diminished. For him still to commit zina therefore—may Allah protect us—shows extreme depravity, for he has perpetrated this obscenity without any compelling motive.

Zina is vile whether committed by a young man or an old one, yet in the case of the elder it is more heinous and more serious—Allah’s refuge is sought. Nevertheless, this hadith is qualified by what is authentically reported in the two Ṣaḥīḥs: whoever commits any of these abominations and the prescribed legal punishment (ḥadd) is carried out on him in this world, Allah the Exalted will not combine two penalties for him; the punishment wipes out the sin and serves as a purification.

The second: a lying ruler. The term kadhdhāb is an intensive form, signifying someone who lies habitually,