Exegesis of the verse: ((And those who commit immorality among your women, then take four [witnesses] from among you...))

Then Allah the Exalted said: is a subject (mubtada'), and its predicate (khabar) is the sentence: Here, the question is asked: why is the conjunction "fa" (so/then) attached to the predicate of the subject? The answer to this is: because the subject is a relative pronoun, it resembles the conditional noun in its generality, so it was given the same ruling, and the "fa" was attached to its predicate. From this is the statement of the grammarians in the famous example: "Whoever comes to me, for him is a dirham", which serves as a substitute for saying: "Whoever comes to me, for him is a dirham". So, because the relative pronoun resembles the conditional noun in generality, the entry of "fa" in its predicate is like the entry of "fa" in the answer to a condition. And His saying: is a plural. A plural of what? A plural of "allati" (those who), but it is on... because these names are not derived. And His saying: "al-fahisha" (immorality) is what is considered shameful, what is considered shameful by law and by custom. And what is considered shameful by law is considered shameful by custom in the customs of Muslims, not in the customs of non-Muslims. We specified this because zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) is shameful by law and shameful by custom in the custom of Muslims, but in the custom of disbelievers it is not shameful. From this we know that the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): is specific to whom? To the Muslim who dislikes sin and fears that people will see him in his state of sin; otherwise, the disbeliever does not consider sin shameful in his own heart. His saying: What is meant by "al-fahisha" here? That is, the meaning of "al-fahisha" is what is considered shameful; its meaning is what is considered shameful by law and by custom, and what is meant by it is zina. The evidence for this is His saying, the Exalted: And on this basis, "al" is for mental reference (al-'ahd al-dhahni), because it was not mentioned but is known by law. We established this to refute the statement of those who say, like Abu Muslim al-Khurasani, who said: The meaning is lesbianism, lesbianism between women. But this is far from the truth, and none of the Companions or the Successors, as far as we know, interpreted it as such. The correct view is that what is meant by "al-fahisha" is zina, and the evidence is . And His saying: The meaning is the category, meaning the category of women, whether they are from our wives or from other than wives. And His saying: "min" (from) is an explanation of the relative pronoun in His saying: , "istashhidu" (take witnesses) means seek the testimony of four. And here is a number indicating that the counted noun is masculine. What is the basis? We divide , meaning, if it came in the nominative case, would it not indicate that the counted noun is masculine? Because the feminine number has a masculine counted noun for numbers less than ten. So you say: nine men, and nine women. Clear? Good. And His saying: The address is to the Muslims, because one of the conditions of testimony, especially in this great matter, is that the witness be a Muslim. If they testify, meaning they testify to the act of immorality, The address here is general. Who is intended by it? The one intended is the one in authority (wali al-amr), and the one in authority is either specific or general. And His saying: Plural of house, meaning confine her in her house, imprison her, do not let her go out. Because that is a means to establishing zina, where she remains imprisoned in her house and does not go out, so she tempts people and is tempted. He seizes them. It is said: "I received my right from so-and-so," meaning I took it. And His saying: means the Angel of Death, as He said, the Exalted: But he expresses that by death in a broad sense, and death is the loss of life, which is by the soul leaving the body, because the soul in the body is a loan; when it is called, it leaves. "aw" (or) is a conjunction, and is conjoined to , so it is in the accusative case. means it becomes for them a way, meaning a path to escape from this confinement. And Allah has made for them a way. By what? By His saying, the Exalted: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: So it is clear from this that what is meant by "the way" is what Allah the Exalted prescribed as the punishment for the fornicator: flogging and exile, or stoning and exile. Then Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said: In contrast to "allati" (those who), is it for males or females? For males. But the contrast is not complete. Here it said: and there it said: Why? Some scholars said: The meaning of "alladhani" (the two who) here is the male fornicator and the female fornicator. But the ruling for the female fornicator has already been mentioned, which is that she is confined in the house, and the male fornicator is given permission and is not confined in the house. And some scholars said: The meaning of them is the two who commit sodomy, meaning the active partner and the passive partner. And "coming to" (al-itiyan) was added to the passive partner even though he is the one being approached, because the receptive one who is willing is like the active one. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And the correct view is that refers to the two who commit sodomy, a man committing sodomy with a man — may Allah protect us from that — but there remains another consideration: why was "al-itiyan" (coming to) used for the women with and for the males with ? Because the prevalence of zina among women is greater than the prevalence of sodomy among males. And in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, they did not know of sodomy, until some of them said: "If Allah had not related to us what He related of the story of the people of Lut, we would not have imagined that this would happen", because who would imagine that a man would be willing to be treated as a woman is treated? This is impossible by nature and impossible by law.