In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
A SURA which we have sent down and sanctioned! Clear signs have we sent down therein, that ye may take warning.
The whore and the whoremonger-scourge each of them with an hundred stripes; and let not compassion keep you from carrying out the sentence of God, if ye believe in God and the last day: And let some of the faithful witness their chastisement.1
The whoremonger shall not marry other than a whore or an idolatress; and the whore shall not marry other than a whoremonger or an idolater. Such alliances are forbidden to the faithful.
They who defame virtuous women,2 and bring not four witnesses, scourge them with fourscore stripes, and receive ye not their testimony for ever, for these are perverse persons-
Save those who afterwards repent and live virtuously; for truly God is
Lenient, Merciful!
And they who shall accuse their wives, and have no witnesses but themselves, the testimony of each of them shall be a testimony by God four times repeated, that he is indeed of them that speak the truth.3
And the fifth time that the malison of God be upon him, if he be of them that lie.
But it shall avert the chastisement from her if she testify a testimony four times repeated, by God, that he is of them that lie;
And a fifth time to call down the wrath of God on her, if he have spoken the truth.