Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

It is essential to stone the married adulterer until he dies,

following the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be

upon him), as it is proven that he said that, did it and enjoined it. The

Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stoned

Maa’iz, the Juhani woman, the Ghaamidi woman, and the two Jews. All of that

is proven in saheeh ahaadeeth narrated from the Prophet (peace and

blessings of Allaah be upon him). The scholars among the Sahaabah (may

Allaah be pleased with them), the Taabi’een and those who came after them

are also unanimously agreed on that. No one differed from them apart from

those to whose views no attention is to be paid. Al-Bukhaari and Muslim

narrated in their Saheehs from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased

with him) that ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “Allaah sent

Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) with the truth and

revealed to him the Book, and one of the things that Allaah revealed was the

verse of stoning. We have read it and understood it. The Messenger of Allaah

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stoned (adulterers) and we

stoned (them) after him, but I fear that there may come a time when some

people say: ‘By Allaah, we do not find the verse of stoning in the Book of

Allaah.’ So they will go astray by forsaking an obligation that Allaah has

revealed. According to the Book of Allaah, stoning is deserved by the one

who commits zina, if he is married, men and women alike, if proof is

established or the woman becomes pregnant or they confess…”

Based on this, it is not

permissible to replace stoning with killing by the sword or shooting,

because stoning is a more severe punishment and a more effective deterrent

to the sin of zina, which is the most grave sin after shirk and killing a

soul whom Allaah has forbidden us to kill. The hadd punishment of stoning

for a married person who commits zina is one of the matters that is

determined by the Qur’aan and Sunnah and there is no room for ijtihaad or

personal opinion. If killing by the sword or shooting were permissible in

the case of the married adulterer then the Prophet (peace and blessings

of Allaah be upon him) would have done that and would have explained it to

his ummah, and his companions after him would have done that too.