Punishment for Zina (Illicit Sexual Behavior) in Islam

According to Islam, the punishment for illicit sexual behavior, which is based in part on Q 24.2, is flogging or stoning, depending on the marital status (non-married virgin or a married person) of the one committing the prohibited behavior:

The whore and the whoremonger. Scourge each of them with a hundred stripes, and do not let pity for them take hold of you in God’s religion, if ye believe in God and the last day; and let a party of the believers witness their torment.

In his commentary on this verse, Q 24.2, the eminent influential Islamic scholar Ibn Kathīr provides this explanation:

This…[verse] contains the ruling on the law of retaliation for the person who commits illegal sex, and details of the punishment. Such a person will either be unmarried, meaning that he has never been married, or he will be married, meaning that he has had intercourse within the bounds of a lawful marriage, and he is free, adult and of sound mind. As for the virgin who is unwedded, the prescribed punishment is one hundred stripes [lashes], as stated….In addition to this he is to be banished from his homeland for one year….

The flogging needs to be public because this setting is “more humiliating for the people who are guilty of illegal sex, if they are flogged in front of the people. This is because it is more effective as a deterrent and it conveys the sense of scandal and rebuke”.

Ibn Kathīr also points out that it is not permissible to allow compassion to sway or lessen the ruling, relying on one of the clauses in the verse that states “…and do not let pity for them take hold of you in God’s religion….”

The punishment for illicit sexual behavior by a married person, however, is more severe: it is death by stoning. According to the commentary of Ibn Kathīr, if a person is “married, meaning he [or she] has had intercourse within the bounds of lawful marriage, and he [or she] is free, adult and of sound mind, then he [or she] should be stoned to death”.

This ruling is supported by evidence found in numerous ģadīths, sayings, and occasions. In fact, Ibn Kathīr corroborates his explanation by quoting Imam Mālik:

Imam Malik recorded that ‘Umar [Ibn al-Khaţţāb] …stood up and …said: “O people! Allah sent Muhammad with the truth, and revealed to him the Book [Qur’ān]. One of the things that was revealed to him was the ayah [verse] of stoning to death, which we have recited and understood. The Messenger of Allah carried out the punishment of stoning and after him we did so, but I am afraid that as time goes by, some will say that they did not find the ayah of stoning in the Book of Allah, and they will go astray because they abandoned one of the obligations revealed by Allah. Stoning is something that is prescribed in the Book of Allah for the person—man or woman—who commits illegal sex, if he or she is married, if decisive evidence is produced, or if pregnancy results from that, or if they confess to it.”

Other examples can be found in other Hadīths with similar reliable multiple chains. Ibn Kathīr comments on a lengthy narration (which includes Ibn ‘Abbās, ‘Umar Ibn al-Khaţţāb, and Zayd Ibn Thābit): “These are all multiple methods [for the punishment of illicit sexual behavior], which are mutually reinforcing, and function as evidence that the verse of stoning was written but its recitation was abrogated, yet its ruling remains”.

According to several Islamic sources, the stoning verse has the following text: “The shaykh [sexually experienced man] and the shaykha [sexually experienced woman], if they commit adultery, stone them outright.” According to one narration, this verse was in Q 24. It is also narrated that ’Ubayy Ibn Ka‘b said, “Sura al-Ahzab [Q 33] is equal to Sura al-Baqara [Q 2] and it contains that [stoning verse]: ‘The shaykh and shaykha who commit adultery, stone them”.

It should also be noted that stoning is the final judgment against adulterers and abrogates the ruling of another verse, Q 4.15, which establishes a lesser punishment and limits it to women only:

Against those of your women who commit adultery, call witnesses four in number from among yourselves; and if these bear witness, then keep the women in houses until death release them, or God shall make for them a way.

Ibn Kathīr states that, in the beginning of Islam, “the ruling was that if a woman commits adultery as stipulated by sufficient proof, she was confined to her house, without leave, until she died”. Ibn Kathīr adds that the expression “God shall make for them a way” means Allah’s “abrogation of this ruling [by the stoning verse] that came later”. Ibn ‘Abbās confirms this Islamic ruling when he states that “the early ruling was confinement, until Allah revealed sura al-Nur [Q 24], which abrogated that ruling with the ruling of flogging (for fornication) or stoning to death (for adultery)”. It is shown by the abrogated verse (Q 4.15) that this earlier ruling was limited to women, according to most Islamic scholars.

Some Islamic scholars and leaders combine the punishment of flogging and stoning against the adulterer, based on several narrations in the Hadith literature, such as this sample Hadīth:

[As reported by ‘Ubada Ibn al-Samit] Allah’s Messenger…[said,] “Receive (teaching) from me, receive (teaching) from me. Allah has ordained a way for those (women). When an unmarried male commits adultery with an unmarried female (they should receive) one hundred lashes and banishment for one year. And in case of [a] married male committing adultery with a married female, they shall receive one hundred lashes and be stoned to death.”

Not only does the Hadith literature contain Muhammad’s teachings regarding zina, but it also documents Muhammad’s participation in the stoning of adulterers, such as the situation in which Muhammad ordered the flogging of a hundred lashes for a hired helper, who had committed adultery with the wife of his master, and ordered the stoning of the woman. The Hadith literature also records Muhammad’s comment before making his fateful decision: “By the one whose hand is my soul, I will judge between you both according to the book of Allah….”

Whether or not the stoning verse was originally in Q 24, Muhammad’s words and actions make it extremely clear that he believed that this ultimate punishment for illicit sexual behavior was not only permissible but was commanded by Allah.

Yet the absence of the stoning verse in the Qur’ān—an omission concerning a severe form of capital punishment primarily administered to women—challenges the legitimacy of its ruling and instead makes it appear the capricious action of the governing ruler’s preferences or beliefs.