1553 - Issue: He said: (And if a free, virgin person commits adultery, he is whipped one hundred times and banished for a year.)

This refers to someone (1) who has not attained Ihsan (legal immunity/protection through marriage), even if he has previously been married. We have already mentioned Ihsan and its conditions. There is no disagreement regarding the obligation of whipping the adulterer if he is not in a state of Ihsan, as this has been clarified in the Book of Allah the Almighty by His statement: "The woman and the man guilty of adultery, flog each one of them with a hundred stripes" (2). The hadiths from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) came in conformity with what was brought by the Book. Along with the whipping, banishment for a year is obligatory, according to the opinion of the majority of scholars. This was narrated from the Rightly Guided Caliphs. It was the opinion of Ubayy, Abu Dharr (3), Ibn Mas'ud, and Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them (4). 'Ata', Tawus, al-Thawri, Ibn Abi Layla, al-Shafi'i, Ishaq, and Abu Thawr held this view. Malik and al-Awza'i said: The man is banished, but not the woman; because the woman requires protection and safeguarding, and because she cannot be [subjected to] banishment with or without a mahram; [furthermore], it is not permissible to banish [her] without a mahram, due to the saying of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): "It is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to travel the distance of a day and a night except with a mahram" (5). Furthermore, banishing her without a mahram is an incitement for her toward immorality (1), and a cause for her to be lost. If she is banished with a mahram, it leads to banishing someone who is not an adulterer and exiling one who has committed no sin. If she is made to bear the cost of his travel, that is an addition to her punishment for which no provision has come in the Shari'ah, just as if it were added to the man's punishment. The specific report regarding banishment pertains only to the man, and this is what the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, did. A general text may be specified because acting upon its generality necessitates contradicting its implication (mafhum), for it indicated (6) by its implication that it is not upon the adulterer...