10- This episode attests to the great distinction of Maʿiz—may Allah be pleased with him—for he came forward of his own accord, angered for Allah’s sake and eager to purify himself, even though the Prophet ﷺ was turning him away and prompting him with what would have excused him from the ḥadd.

Scholarly disagreement
The jurists have differed: must the confession of adultery be repeated four times before the ḥadd is carried out, or not?

Imam Aḥmad and the majority—including al-Ḥakam, Ibn Abī Laylā, and the Ḥanafis—hold that four separate admissions are required. They adduce the present ḥadith, for the Prophet ﷺ did not apply the ḥadd to Maʿiz until he had testified against himself four times, and they analogize this to witness testimony in adultery, which is not accepted with fewer than four witnesses.

They do not stipulate that the confessions occur in separate sittings, unlike the Ḥanafis.

Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, Abū Thawr, and Ibn al-Munadhdhir argue that a single confession suffices, citing the ḥadith: “Go, O Anīs, to this man’s wife; if she confesses, stone her,” in which no mention is made of four admissions. The Prophet ﷺ likewise stoned the woman of the Juhaynah tribe after only one confession.

They respond to the ḥadith of Maʿiz by noting that the reports differ over the number of confessions: some state four, others two, and others three.

The analogy is also unsound; in financial matters two upright witnesses are required, yet a debtor’s single admission is accepted by consensus. Allah knows best.

Hadith 6
Abd Allah ibn ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with them—reported:

“The Jews came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and told him that a man and a woman from among them had committed adultery. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked, ‘What do you find in the Torah concerning stoning?’

“They replied, ‘We expose them to disgrace and flog them.’

“ʿAbd Allah ibn Salām said, ‘You have lied; the Torah contains the verse of stoning.’ They brought out the Torah and spread it open. One of them covered the verse of stoning with his hand and read what came before and after it.

“ʿAbd Allah ibn Salām said, ‘Lift your hand.’ When he lifted it, there was the verse of stoning. He said, ‘Muhammad has spoken the truth.’

“The Prophet ﷺ then ordered that the two of them be stoned, and they were stoned. I saw the man lean over the woman (1) shielding her from the stones.”

He—may Allah be pleased with him—said: The one who had placed his hand over the verse of stoning was ʿAbd Allah ibn Ṣūriyā.