a bundle and strike with it, and do not break your oath" (38). This is more appropriate than abandoning his punishment entirely or killing him by that which (39) does not necessitate killing.

1554 - Issue: He said: "And if a male slave or female slave commits adultery, each one of them shall be flogged fifty lashes, and they shall not be banished."

The sum of this is that the punishment for a male slave and a female slave is fifty lashes, whether they are virgins (bikrayn) or previously married (thayyibayn), according to the opinion of most jurists, including Umar, Ali, Ibn Mas'ud, al-Hasan, al-Nakha'i, Malik, al-Awza'i, Abu Hanifah, al-Shafi'i, al-Batti, and al-'Anbari. Ibn Abbas, Tawus, and Abu 'Ubayd said: If they are married, they are subject to half the punishment, and there is no punishment for anyone else; because Allah the Almighty said: "And when they are protected (married), if they commit a shameful act, they shall have half of what the protected women have of punishment" (1). Thus, the implication of the address (dalil al-khitab) is that there is no punishment for those who are not protected (married). Dawud said: The female slave is subject to half the punishment if she commits adultery after being married, while the male slave is subject to a hundred lashes in all cases. Regarding the female slave if she has not been married, there are two narrations: one is that there is no punishment for her, and the other is that she is flogged a hundred times; because the statement of Allah the Almighty: "Flog each one of them with a hundred lashes" (2) is general, from which the protected female slave was excluded by His statement: "And when they are protected, if they commit a shameful act, they shall have half of what the protected women have of punishment." Thus, the male slave and the female slave who has not been protected remain under the requirements of the generality. It is possible that the implication of the address regarding the female slave means that there is no punishment for her, according to the statement (3) of Ibn Abbas. Abu Thawr said: If they have not been protected through marriage, they are both subject to half the punishment; if they have been protected, they are both subject to stoning, due to the generality of the reports regarding that.