peace), and he said: "Why did you not leave him, that he might repent and Allah might accept his repentance?" (2). In this, there is the clearest evidence that his retraction is accepted. From Buraydah, who said: "We, the companions of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), used to say that if the Ghamidiyyah woman and Ma’iz ibn Malik had retracted [after their confession] (3)—or he said: if they had not retracted after their confession—he would not have pursued them, and he only stoned them at the fourth [confession]." Narrated by Abu Dawud (4). Furthermore, because his retraction is a doubt (shubhah), [and hadd punishments are warded off] (5) by doubts. Moreover, confession is one of the two pieces of evidence for the hadd, so it falls away by retracting it, just like testimony if it is retracted before the hadd is executed, differing from other rights, for they are not warded off by doubts. The reason why liability (daman) for Ma’iz was not binding upon those who killed him after he fled is that his fleeing is not explicit enough as a retraction.

Once this is established, if he flees, he is not to be pursued, due to the saying of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): "Why did you not leave him?" If he is not left alone and is killed, there is no liability, because the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did not impose liability on those who killed Ma’iz, and because his flight is not explicit as a retraction. If he says: "Take me back to the judge," it is obligatory to return him, and it is not permissible to complete the hadd. If it is completed, there is no liability upon the one who completed it, for the reason we mentioned regarding his flight. If he retracts his confession and says: "I lied in my confession," or "I retract it," or "I did not do what I confessed to," it is obligatory to leave him. If a killer kills him after that, liability (daman) becomes due because his confession has ceased to exist by his retraction, so he becomes like one who did not confess. There is no retaliation (qisas) upon his killer, because scholars have disagreed regarding the validity of his retraction, so their disagreement constitutes a doubt that wards off retaliation. Also, the validity of a confession is something hidden, so that constitutes an excuse preventing the obligation of retaliation.

1561 - Issue: He said: (Or four Muslim, free, just men bear witness against him, describing the adultery.)

Al-Khiraqi mentioned seven conditions for the witnesses of adultery; one of them is that there must be four of them. This is an ijma’ (consensus),