the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sought to verify his condition. He asked him, “Are you insane?” He replied, “No.” The Prophet then questioned his relatives about his mental soundness, and they spoke well of him.

Next he asked, “Are you a previously-married man (muhsan) or an unmarried youth for whom stoning is not required?” The man informed him that he was muhsan. The Prophet further enquired, “Perhaps you merely touched or kissed”—acts that do not incur the ḥadd—so the man stated explicitly that he had committed full adultery.

Once the Prophet ﷺ had confirmed all these matters and was certain that the ḥadd must be enforced, he ordered his Companions to take him away and stone him. They led him to Baqīʿ al-Gharqad—the place where funeral prayers were held—and there they stoned him. When he felt the scorching pain of the stones, the human instinct for survival prompted him to seek escape from death, and he fled. They caught up with him at al-Ḥarra, overcame him, and continued until he died. May Allah have mercy on him and be pleased with him.

Lessons derived from the ḥadith

1- Adultery is established by confession just as it is established by witness testimony. A further discussion will follow on whether one confession suffices or whether, as in this report, four separate confessions are required.

2- The confession of a madman is of no legal consequence and no ḥadd is inflicted upon him, because legal accountability (taklīf) is a prerequisite for the ḥadd.

3- Judges and muftis must exercise careful verification in their rulings, asking detailed questions about any matter that could alter the legal verdict. The Prophet ﷺ questioned the confessor here until it was clear that he had committed consummated adultery, asked his family about his sanity, and turned away from him until he had repeated the confession. Ibn Ḥajar said in Fatḥ al-Bārī: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ displayed the utmost care in verification. This occurred after the man had confessed four times, which confirms the requirement of repetition, for this remarkable verification took place thereafter.”

4- The ḥadd for a muhsan who commits adultery is stoning with stones until death, and no pit is dug for him during the stoning.

5- The presence of the ruler or his deputy is not a condition for carrying out the ḥadd, although it is preferable that one of them attend to guarantee fairness and to prevent tampering with Allah’s limits.

6- It is permissible to execute the ḥadd in the place reserved for funeral prayers; in the early period a special area was set aside for that purpose.

7- The ḥadd serves as an expiation for the sin for which it is imposed, and this is unanimously agreed upon. The Prophet ﷺ said explicitly: “Whoever commits any of these offenses and is punished for it in this world, that punishment is his expiation.”

8- The sin incurred by acts of disobedience is removed by sincere repentance (tawbah nasūḥ), and this too is a point of consensus among the Muslims.

9- The imam or judge may turn away from someone who confesses to adultery, for he might have done something that does not warrant the ḥadd yet believed that it did; the prescribed punishments are averted in cases of doubt.