• The Law relating to the punishment for adultery

• False charge of adultery

• The dealing with the accusation of adultery by the husband against his wife

An-Nur Verses 1 – 10

بِسْمِ ٱللّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the name of God the Beneficent the Merciful

سُورَةٌ أَنزَلْنَـٰهَا وَفَرَضْنَـٰهَا وَأَنزَلْنَا فِيهَآ ءَايَـٰتٍۭ بَيِّنَـٰتٍ لَّعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ

(This) ‘Surah’1which We have sent down, and which We have ordained;2and We have sent down therein clear 3signs, that ye may take heed. (24:1)

ٱلزَّانِيَةُ وَٱلزَّانِى فَٱجْلِدُوا۟ كُلَّ وَٰحِدٍ مِّنْهُمَا مِا۟ئَةَ جَلْدَةٍ وَلَا تَأْخُذْكُم بِهِمَا رَأْفَةٌ فِى دِينِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ وَلْيَشْهَدْ عَذَابَهُمَا طَآئِفَةٌ مِّنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

The fornicatress and fornicator scourge ye each of them (with) a hundred stripes, and let not pity for them keep you away from enforcing the sentence of God, if ye believe in God and the Last Day; and let their chastisement be witnessed by a party of the believers. (24:2)4

ٱلزَّانِى لَا يَنكِحُ إِلَّا زَانِيَةً أَوْ مُشْرِكَةً وَٱلزَّانِيَةُ لَا يَنكِحُهَآ إِلَّا زَانٍ أَوْ مُشْرِكٌ وَحُرِّمَ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

The fornicator marrieth not but a fornicatress or an idolatress, and the fornicatress marrieth not but a fornicator or an idolator; and it is forbidden unto the believers. (24:3)5

وَٱلَّذِينَ يَرْمُونَ ٱلْمُحْصَنَـٰتِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَأْتُوا۟ بِأَرْبَعَةِ شُهَدَآءَ فَٱجْلِدُوهُمْ ثَمَـٰنِينَ جَلْدَةً وَلَا تَقْبَلُوا۟ لَهُمْ شَهَـٰدَةً أَبَدًا وَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْفَـٰسِقُونَ

And those who accuse protected6women (with adultery) (and) then bring not four witnesses (supporting the charge), scourge them (with) fourscore stripes, and (after that) accept ye not their testimony for ever; and these it is the wicked (ones), (24:4)

إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ تَابُوا۟ مِنۢ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ وَأَصْلَحُوا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

Save those who repent after this and amend themselves, for verily God is Oft-Forgiving All- Merciful. (24:5)7

وَٱلَّذِينَ يَرْمُونَ أَزْوَٰجَهُمْ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُمْ شُهَدَآءُ إِلَّآ أَنفُسُهُمْ فَشَهَـٰدَةُ أَحَدِهِمْ أَرْبَعُ شَهَـٰدَٰتٍۭ بِٱللَّهِ ۙ إِنَّهُۥ لَمِنَ ٱلصَّـٰدِقِينَ

For those who accuse their wives while they have no witnesses save themselves, then the testimony of one of them8(shall be taken) four times (swearing) by God that verily he9is of the truthful (ones) (24:6)10

وَٱلْخَـٰمِسَةُ أَنَّ لَعْنَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ إِن كَانَ مِنَ ٱلْكَـٰذِبِينَ

And the fifth (oath to be) that the curse of God on him11if he be one of the liars. (24:7)

وَيَدْرَؤُا۟ عَنْهَا ٱلْعَذَابَ أَن تَشْهَدَ أَرْبَعَ شَهَـٰدَٰتٍۭ بِٱللَّهِ ۙ إِنَّهُۥ لَمِنَ ٱلْكَـٰذِبِينَ

And it shall avert the punishment from her12if she testify four times (swearing) by God, that verily he13is one of liars, (24:8)

وَٱلْخَـٰمِسَةَ أَنَّ غَضَبَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْهَآ إِن كَانَ مِنَ ٱلصَّـٰدِقِينَ

And the fifth (path) to be that the wrath of God be on her if he be of the truthful ones (24:9)

وَلَوْلَا فَضْلُ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُۥ وَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ تَوَّابٌ حَكِيمٌ

And had it not been God’s grace upon you and His mercy - and that God is Oft-Returning, All-Wise (ye had been ruined indeed). (24:10)

Commentary

Verse 1

This surah has been revealed about the moral laws which are prescribed to be strictly followed in the practical life on earth. The force of ‘We’ in the opening words of this verse suggests that the ordinances in this Surah about the check on the sex offences, are not matters of mere moral behaviour to be left to the choice or the discretion of any individual or of the state, but a matter decreed by God Himself as the divine law, directly connected not only with the physical life of man on earth but also about his spiritual welfare in the hereafter. Thus, the observance of these laws are matters ordained to be strictly observed.

‘Surah’ originally means a piece of land distinguished by four walls around it or an elevation figuratively used by God - pieces of the Holy Book, distinguished from each other by ‘Bismillah’ except the ‘Surah 9’ which begins without ‘Bismillah’ though it is a separate piece or chapter from its preceding chapter. The use of Surah here and elsewhere indicates the existence of the Holy Qur’an in the form of Surahs during the time of its revelation. (A.P.).

Verse 2

The sexual intercourse between man and woman without wedlock is termed as ‘Zina,’ i.e., adultery. The law of hundred stripes is for those who are unmarried ones, (i.e., the convicts), the woman not married to any other man and the man to any other woman. The latter part of this verse meaning a warning against any leniency in enforcing the law, suggests the grievous nature of the crime, and the strictness with which God wills the offenders to be punished. As this question has to be decided with definite and unchallengeable evidence, Refer to the details in ‘Fiqh’. As the punishment declared is grievous and capital, the proof of the offence has also been bound with great precautions and care against the least possibility of any falsehood playing any role in it.14

The appointment of Ali ibn Abi Talib as the First Holy Imam (i.e., the immediate successor to the Holy Prophet) was not for any undue attachment of the Holy Prophet to Ali or for any consideration other than God’s will to secure His Final Word (Qur’an) and to provide mankind with the correct interpretation of it. The position of Ali in Islam and his worth or value to the faith is a fact wholeheartedly and unanimously acknowledged by one and all in the Islamic World. Even those who had been hostile to his personal position, could not help bowing to Ali’s authority in the knowledge of both the worlds (i.e., the seen and the unseen). Whenever any intricate problem confronted them which was unsolvable for them, they helplessly resorted to Abul Hasan (Ali’s Epithet). Umar the Second Caliph had more than once declared:

“Had there not been Ali, Umar would have perished.”

“God spare me from a problem to solve which Abul Hasan be not present.”

The following incident illustrates the position of Ali and his worth to the Faith. Once six persons who were accused of ‘Zina’ (adultery) were presented to Umar when he was the Second Caliph. Umar ordered ‘Hadd’ i.e., the sentence of rendering hundred stripes. Ali told Umar: ‘It is not justice’. Umar requested Ali ‘Deal thou O’ Abul Hasan as thou thinkest right’. Ali ordered:

1. The First to be executed

2. The Second to he stoned to death.

3. The Third to be striped one hundred stripes.

4. The Fourth to be striped fifty whips.

5. The Fifth to he warned.

6. The Sixth to be let off.

People wondered at the different sentences decreed by Ali for one and the same kind of crime and when asked, Ali said:

The first one was ‘Zimmi’ a disbeliever under the protection of the Muslim State - he has committed the crime with a Muslim woman. Having broken the law of Islam, he ceases to be a Zimmi - he shall be executed.

The second one was a married man - he shall be stoned to death.

The third one was a bachelor - he shall receive the full number of the hundred stripes.

The fourth one was a slave - he shall get only half the punishment, i.e., fifty stripes.

The sixth was mad man - Hence he is out of the exercise of the law - he shall be let off. (MS., U.B.)15

The incident seems to be a providential plan executed to disclose the divine wisdom and the wonderful store of knowledge of the Word of God endowed in Ali, to prove to the world the justification in assigning the highest position to Ali next only to the Holy Prophet.

To the victims of the modern civilization which is nothing but a moral and social degeneration and a spiritual bankruptcy, would surely view the Islamic restrictions and the regulations on the sex life in this world, as too much of severity against adultery which to the modern civilization is only a misconduct, but Islam views it as an awful and heinous crime. It is adultery which is an acknowledged abomination which shatters the character and the conduct of both the sexes and deprives both man and woman of the faithfulness and devotion to the wives and the husbands respectively and which ruins the happiness and the harmony in the family life and makes the lives of the innocent children miserable. The staunch moralists and the learned psychologists would surely vouch as to the ruinous effect this heinous crime has on the mental and consequently upon the spiritual life of the members of the human family, besides the horrible effects it has on the physical health of both the sexes. Islam, the religion prescribed by God Himself, in the interest of the physical as well as the spiritual health and progress of men and women, and also to maintain the social hygiene of the people intact, imposes severe punishment on this crime.

The concluding words of this verse demand the punishment to be meted out in open public before a crowd of the believers so that the others may get alerted against getting astray and beguiled by Satan in the abominable way.

The Old Testament of the Christian church also contains a similar punishment for the crime:

“Then shalt thou bring forth that man and that woman committed that wicked thing unto thy gates, and shalt stone them with stones till they die.” Deut. 17/5.

(a) Addressed not to everyone but to those who are not tainted with any crime punishable and who know the Divine Laws and their application. (A.P.)

(b) The minimum number of the witnesses required, refer to ‘Fiqh.’

Verse 3

It is an interdict imposed upon those convicted of fornication that the door of the normal matrimonial alliance with the gentle men and the gentle women of the healthy and the respectable society, is shut against. This ordinance is to serve as a punishment as well as an effective check upon the contagion of the gross immoral character spreading and contaminating the other healthy members of the human family.

Regarding the passage whether it is of imperative or legislative significance or it is a mere statement about the mental tendencies of a fornicator and a fornicatress and that ‘Hurramah’ forbidden, means the believers disliking or detesting of such inmates - if the whole content is taken into consideration there remains no doubt that the passage means nothing but a statement of the general inclination of the parties mentioned - and no legislative significance could be attached to it and hence no question of abrogation arises. (A.P.).

Verse 4

The punishment being severe, the taking of the evidence about the crime, has also been fully tightened and strictly restricted with severe conditions of definite proof of the crime. About the evidence it is said that: The evidence must be accepted from four confirmed Godfearing and righteous men of piety whose impartiality be known to the public or three such pious impartial men and two virtuous women. Under any case the evidence of only women without men, shall not be accepted, though the women be in double the number (i.e., Eight). In case the witnesses be proved false by differences in the statements by the witnesses, eighty stripes shall be rendered to the false witnesses. Refer to ‘Fiqh’.16.

With this ordinance, Islam has put a very effective check upon false accusations, slander and blasphemous gossip, liable to shatter the lives of men particularly of the women and cause irreparable disaster in the harmonious lives of families. Note the great precaution taken by Islam, to protect the honour of womanhood.

Besides the punishment of eighty stripes to a slanderer who laid the charge and could not bring a definite proof of it, the slanderer is debarred for ever, from the civic right, of giving evidence in any matter whatsoever thereafter. (Refer to ‘Fiqh’).

Verses 6 -7

If anyone accuses his wife of adultery, and brings no witness in support of his accusation - the accusation could be genuine and also can be a false excuse of a wicked husband to get rid of his wife. However, with such a charge of gross disloyalty against the wife, it would be against the human nature for the normal harmony of the married life to continue between the two spouses. The wedlock is automatically dissolved (Refer to ‘Fiqh’). But the allegation could also be correct, in which case the wife should be punished. It could also be a false charge against the wife with some ulterior motive of the husband having lost interest in the woman and somehow or other to get rid of the wedlock commitment, in which case the husband has to be punished.

How the Islamic justice is tempered with mercy recognising the individual responsibility of every human being, man and woman, to his or her faith in God and God’s Authority is obvious from the proviso that when the husband lays the charge, without the prescribed proof of the actual commitment of the crime, the husband should swear for four times pointing to his wife saying “I bear witness before God that what I say is true that the woman, my wife (pointing to her) has committed adultery”, and at the end of these oaths repeated for four times he should invoke the curse of God saying “May the curse of God be upon me (the husband himself) if I be a liar.” Now the sentence against the man ceases to act (For details - see ‘Fiqh’).

Verses 8 - 9

But the crime now is laid upon the woman (the wife). She also is given the choice of receiving the sentence or to acquit herself in a similar way - She must repeat for four times - “I bear witness before God that what my husband accuses me of adultery is a lie” and the fifth time she should say: “May the wrath of God be on me (the wife herself) if what he says is true.” With this, the wife is for ever separated from her husband, with the wedlock dissolved, never again to be effected between the two and if the wife be pregnant the issue will not be called as that of the husband but exclusively of the wife. (See ‘Fiqh’).

Verse 10

This is certainly a great lesson from God and His mercy otherwise no family life would be spared by the foul taste of mischief becoming common among the general masses.

• 1. Chapter.
• 2. Prescribed in separate sections.
• 3. Also verses dealing with creation & legislation.
• 4. Refer to verse 4:15.
• 5. Refer to note on verse 24:26.
• 6. Chaste or married women.
• 7. Refer to verse 4:16.
• 8. Those who accuse their wives.
• 9. The husband.
• 10. Refer to verse 4:15.
• 11. The husband.
• 12. The wife.
• 13. The husband.
• 14. See verse 4:15.
• 15. Minhaj as-Sadiqin, Umdat al-Bayan.
• 16. See verse 4:16