By the one who is denoted by the name Allah (who created my being with His Names in accord with the meaning of the letter ‘B’), the Rahman, the Rahim.

1. This is a chapter that We have revealed and (the rules that We) made obligatory... We have revealed clear signs in it so that you may remember and contemplate.

2. As for the adulterer and the adulteress (who engage out of wedlock), flog each one with a hundred strikes! Let not pity for them prevent you in the religion (system) of Allah if you have believed in Allah, your essential reality with His Names, and the eternal life to come (for this punishment is out of mercy and love)... And let some of the believers witness their punishment.

3. For an adulterer (who engages in sexual relations out of wedlock) can only marry an adulteress or a polytheist (dualist) woman. And an adulteress can only marry an adulterer or a polytheist (dualist) man. This has been forbidden to the believers.

4. Those who slander against chaste women (accuse them of adultery) without bringing four witnesses, flog them with eighty strikes and never accept their testimony again... They are the ones whose faith has become corrupt.

5. Except those who repent and correct themselves... Indeed, Allah is the Ghafur, the Rahim.

6. Those who accuse their own wives of adultery and have no witness other than themselves, shall swear four times ‘by Allah’ that they are among the truthful ones.

7. And the fifth time that Allah’s curse may be upon him if he is of the liars.

8. (And the woman in defense) shall ward off the punishment from herself by swearing four times ‘by Allah’ that he is a liar.

9. And the fifth time that Allah’s curse may be upon her if he is of the truthful.

10. What if Allah’s bounty and grace had not been upon you and Allah had not been the Tawwab and the Hakim!

11. Indeed, those (hypocrites) who came to you with that slander (in regards to Aisha r.a.) is a group among you who have come together only to accuse. Do not think it (that slander against you) is harmful to you! On the contrary, it is beneficial for you... Each one of them shall be held to account of their own crime. And their ringleader, who took the greater part of the crime, shall be subject to great suffering.

12. Should not the believing men and believing women have thought well of each other and said, “This is a clear slander”?

13. Should they (the slanderers) not have brought forth four witnesses? Since they could not bring the witnesses, they are definitely liars in the sight of Allah.

14. If Allah’s bounty and grace had not been upon you in the world and the eternal life to come, a terrible suffering would have afflicted you for your slandering.

15. You accuse based on rumors and speak of things of which you have no definite knowledge as if this is a trivial matter... Yet in the sight of Allah this is a great (crucial) thing!