Light (Al-Noor)
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
۞ A Surah [is this] which We have bestowed from on high, and which We have laid down in plain terms; and in it have We bestowed from on high messages which are clear [in themselves,] so that you might keep [them] in mind. 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 The adulterer marries not but an adulteress or a Mushrikah and the adulteress none marries her except an adulterer or a Muskrik [and that means that the man who agrees to marry (have a sexual relation with) a Mushrikah (female polytheist, pagan or idolatress) or a prostitute, then surely he is either an adulterer, or a Mushrik (polytheist, pagan or idolater, etc.) And the woman who agrees to marry (have a sexual relation with) a Mushrik (polytheist, pagan or idolater) or an adulterer, then she is either a prostitute or a Mushrikah (female polytheist, pagan, or idolatress, etc.)]. Such a thing is forbidden to the believers (of Islamic Monotheism). 3 Those who defame chaste women and do not bring four witnesses should be punished with eighty lashes, and their testimony should not be accepted afterwards, for they are profligates, 4 Except those who repent after this and reform themselves; so indeed Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful. 5 And those who cast it up on their wives having no witnesses except themselves, the testimony of one of them shall be to testify by God four times that he is of the truthful, 6 And the fifth [oath will be] that the curse of Allah be upon him if he should be among the liars. 7 But the punishment will be averted from her if she swears four times that he is of the liars, 8 And a fifth (time) that the wrath of Allah be upon her if he speaketh truth. 9 And if not for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy... and because Allah is Accepting of repentance and Wise. 10