Light (Al-Noor)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ This is a Surah which We have sent down and We have made it mandatory, and We have sent down clear Commandments in it so that you may learn lessons. 1 The woman and the man guilty of illegal sexual intercourse, flog each of them with a hundred stripes. Let not pity withhold you in their case, in a punishment prescribed by Allah, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day. And let a party of the believers witness their punishment. (This punishment is for unmarried persons guilty of the above crime but if married persons commit it, the punishment is to stone them to death, according to Allah's Law). 2 [Both are equally guilty:] the adulterer couples with none other than an adulteress - that is, a woman who accords [to her own lust] a place side by side with God; and with the adulteress couples none other than an adulterer - that is, a man who accords [to his own lust] a place side by side with God: and this is forbidden unto the believers. 3 And those who accuse free women then do not bring four witnesses, flog them, (giving) eighty stripes, and do not admit any evidence from them ever; and these it is that are the transgressors, 4 Except those who repent after this and act aright, for surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. 5 As for those who accuse their own wives but have no witness except themselves, the evidence of one of them is that he shall swear four times by Allah and declare that he is true (in his charge). 6 and the fifth time, that God's curse may be upon him if he is telling a lie. 7 (As for the woman), it shall avert the punishment from her if she swears four times by Allah that the man is false (in his charge) 8 And the fifth (testimony) should be that the Wrath of Allah be upon her if he (her husband) speaks the truth. 9 And were it not for Allah's grace upon you and His mercy-- and that Allah is Oft-returning (to mercy), Wise! 10