Section: When the adulterer is a man, he is kept standing, he is not bound with anything, and no pit is dug for him, regardless of whether the adultery was proven through evidence (bayyinah) or confession (iqrar). We are not aware of any disagreement regarding this because the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did not dig a pit for Ma'iz. Abu Sa'id said: 'When the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) ordered the stoning of Ma'iz, we went out with him to al-Baqi'. By Allah, we did not dig a pit for him, nor did we bind him; rather, he stood for us.' Narrated by Abu Dawud (9). This is also because digging a pit for him and burying part of his body is a punishment for which the Shari'ah has not provided any legal basis in his case, so it is necessary that it is not established. If it is a woman, the apparent view in the statements of Ahmad is that a pit is not to be dug for her either. This is what al-Qadi mentioned in al-Khilaf, and he mentioned (10) in al-Mujarrad that if the penalty was established by confession, a pit is not to be dug for her, but if it was established by evidence, a pit is to be dug for her up to the chest. Abu al-Khattab said: 'This is more correct in my view.' It is the view of the companions of al-Shafi'i, due to what Abu Bakrah (11) and Buraydah narrated, that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) stoned a woman and dug a pit for her up to her breast. Narrated by Abu Dawud (12). This is also because it is more concealing for her, and there is no need to enable her to escape, because the penalty was established by evidence, so it is not dropped by an action on her part, unlike the case established by confession; for she is left in a state where if she wanted to escape, she could, as her retraction of her confession is accepted. Our response is that most of the hadiths are on the abandonment of digging a pit, for the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did not dig a pit for the Juhaniyyah woman, nor for Ma'iz, nor for the two Jews, and the hadith they cite is not acted upon and they do not subscribe to it; for the one for whom it is reported that a pit was dug, her penalty was established by her confession, and there is no disagreement between us regarding her, so it is not permissible for them to use it as evidence while they oppose it themselves. When this is established, the woman's clothing is tightened around her so that she is not exposed. Abu Dawud (13) narrated with his chain of transmission from Imran ibn