Sunan Abi Dawud

Ibn Abbas said: A lunatic woman who had committed adultery was brought to Umar. He consulted the people and ordered that she should be stoned. Ali ibn AbuTalib passed by and said: What is the matter with this (woman)? They said: This is a lunatic woman belonging to a certain family. She has committed adultery. Umar has given orders that she should be stoned. He said: Take her back. He then came to him and said: Commander of the Faithful, do you not know that there are three people whose actions are not recorded: a lunatic till he is restored to reason, a sleeper till he awakes, and a boy till he reaches puberty? He said: Yes. He then asked: Why is it that this woman is being stoned? He said: There is nothing. He then said: Let her go. He (Umar) let her go and began to utter: Allah is most great.

“... . Till he reaches puberty , and a lunatic till he is restored to consciousness.” ‘Umar then began to utter: Allah is most great.

Ibn Abbas said: A lunatic woman passed by Ali ibn AbuTalib. He then mentioned the rest of the tradition to the same effect as Uthman mentioned. This version has: Do you not remember that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) has said: There are three whose actions are not recorded: a lunatic whose mind is deranged till he is restored to consciousness, a sleeper till he awakes, and a boy till he reaches puberty?

AbuZubyan said: A woman who had committed adultery was brought to Umar. He gave orders that she should be stoned. Ali passed by just then. He seized her and let her go. Umar was informed of it. He said: Ask Ali to come to me. Ali came to him and said: Commander of the Faithful, you know that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: There are three (people) whose actions are not recorded: A boy till he reaches puberty, a sleeper till he awakes, a lunatic till he is restored to reason. This is an idiot (mad) woman belonging to the family of so and so. Someone might have done this action with her when she suffered the fit of lunacy. Umar said: I do not know. Ali said: I do not know.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: There are three (persons) whose actions are not recorded: a sleeper till he awakes, a boy till he reaches puberty, and a lunatic till he comes to reason. Abu Dawud said: Ibn Juraij has transmitted it from Al-Qasim b. Yazid on the authority of 'Ali from the Prophet (ﷺ). This version adds: "and an old man who is feeble-minded."

I was among the captives of Banu Qurayzah. They (the Companions) examined us, and those who had begun to grow hair (pubes) were killed, and those who had not were not killed. I was among those who had not grown hair.

They uncovered my private parts, and when they found that the hair had not begun to grow they put me among the captives.

He was presented before the prophet (ﷺ) on the day of Uhd when he was fourteen years old, but he did not allow him (to participate in the battle). He was again presented before him on the day of Khandaq when he was fifteen years old, Then he allowed him.

When I mentioned this tradition to ‘Umar.b.’Abd al-Aziz he said : This prescribed punishment is between the minor and the major.

Junadah ibn AbuUmayyah said: We were with Busr ibn Artat on the sea (on an expedition). A thief called Misdar who had stolen a bukhti she-camel was brought. He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: Hands are not to be cut off during a warlike expedition. Had it not been so, I would have cut it off.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to me: O AbuDharr: I replied: At your service and at your pleasure, Messenger of Allah! He said: how will you do when death smites people, and a house, meaning a grave, will cost as much as a slave. I said: Allah and His Apostle know best, or he said: What Allah and His Apostle choose for me. He said: Show endurance, or he said: You may show endurance. Abu Dawud said: Hammad b. Abi Sulaiman said: The hand of one who rifles a grave should be cut off because he had entered the deceased's house.

A thief was brought to the Prophet (ﷺ). He said: Kill him. The people said: He has committed theft, Messenger of Allah! Then he said: Cut off his hand. So his (right) hand was cut off. He was brought a second time and he said: Kill him. The people said: He has committed theft, Messenger of Allah! Then he said: Cut off his foot. So his (left) foot was cut off. He was brought a third time and he said: Kill him. The people said: He has committed theft, Messenger of Allah! So he said: Cut off his hand. (So his (left) hand was cut off.) He was brought a fourth time and he said: Kill him. The people said: He has committed theft, Messenger of Allah! So he said: Cut off his foot. So his (right) foot was cut off. He was brought a fifth time and he said: Kill him. So we took him away and killed him. We then dragged him and cast him into a well and threw stones over him.

We asked Fadalah b. 'Ubaid about the hanging the (amputated) hand on the neck of a thief whether it was a sunnan. He said: A thief was brought to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and his hand was cut off. Thereafter he commanded for it, and it was hung on his neck.

The Prophet (ﷺ) as saying: When a slave steals, sell him, even though it be for half an uqiyah.

The Qur’anic verse goes: “If any of your woman are guilty of lewdness, take the evidence of four (reliable) witnesses from amongst you against them, and if they testify, Confine them to houses until death do chain them or Allah ordains for them some (other) way. Allah then mentioned man after woman and combined them in another verse : “If two men among you are guilty of lewdness, punish them both. If they repent and amend, leave them alone. This command was abrogated by the verse relating to flogging : “The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication – flog each of them with one hundred stripes.

“Apponting a way in the verse (iv.15) means prescribed punishment. Sufiyan said: “Punish them “refers to unmarried, and “confine them to houses” refers to the women who are married.

Receive my teachings, receive my teachings. Allah has appointed a way for those women. If the parties have been married, they shall receive a hundred lashes and stoned to death. If the parties are unmarried, they shall receive a hundred lashes and banished for a year.

They shall receive a hundred lashes and toned to death.

The tradition mentioned above (No. 4401) has also been transmitted by Ubadah ibn as-Samit through a different chain of narrators. This version has: The people said to Sa'd ibn Ubadah: AbuThabit, the prescribed punishments have been revealed: if you find a man with your wife, what will you do? He said: I shall strike them with a sword so much that they become silent (i.e. die). Should I go and gather four witnesses? Until that (time) the need would be fulfilled. So they went away and gathered with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said: Messenger of Allah! did you not see AbuThabit. He said so-and-so. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The sword is a sufficient witness. He then said: No, no, a furious and a jealous man may follow this course. Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been transmitted by Waki' from al-Fadl b. Dilham from al-Hasan, from Qabisah b. Huraith, from Salamah b. al-Muhabbaq, from the Prophet (ﷺ). And this is the chain of the tradition narrated by Ibn al-Muhabbaq to the effect that a man had sexual intercourse with a slave girl of his wife. Abu Dawud said: Al-Fadl b. Dilham was not the memoriser of traditions. He was a butcher in Wasit.

‘Umar b. al-Khattab gave an address saying: Allah sent Muhammad (ﷺ) with truth and sent down the Books of him, and the verse of stoning was included in what He sent down to him. We read it and memorized it. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) had people stoned to death and we have done it also since his death. I am afraid the people might say with the passage of time: We do not find the verse of stoning in the Books of Allah, and thus they stray by abandoning a duty which Allah had received. Stoning is a duty laid down (by Allah) for married men and women who commit fornication when proof is established, or if there is pregnancy, or a confession. I swear by Allah, had it not been so that the people might say: ‘Umar made an addition to Allah’s Book, I would have written it (there).