This is a Surah that We have sent down with a decree of law. Clear commandments have been given in it for you to bear in mind.

The habitual adulteress and the habitual adulterer, flog each one of them with a hundred stripes. And let not compassion sway you in their case from carrying out God's law, if you believe in God and the Last Day. And let a group of believers witness the penalty. [Az-Zani & Az-Zaniah = Those who are habitual adulterers, like As-Saariq means a habitual thief. Jaldah (from skin) implies that the lashes must be superficial on the skin. And the presence of a group of believers clearly indicates the punishment as a means of deterrence and not torture. Nowhere does the Qur'an ordain the barbaric punishment of stoning to death anyone for any crime. Lewdness: 4:15, 25. Punishment as a deterrent: 5:38. Capital punishment for rape: 33:60:61. Notice that the punishment would, in general, apply to adultery committed in public since it is almost always done in privacy with anyone seldom being a witness]

The adulterer couples with none but an adulteress who worships her desires. And with the adulteress none couples but the adulterer who worships his desires. It is forbidden to the believers. [24:26, 45:23] [Fornication and adultery are a form of idol worship for, such people submit to their desires. The word AW here is explanatory. AW = Or + That is + Namely + Call it + In other words. AW appears in this format instead of 'or' in many places in the Qur'an such as 23:6, 24:3, 25:62. Nikah, in the lexicon, applies to genuine wedlock as well as to sexual relations between a man and a woman outside wedlock, depending on the context. The very common rendering of this verse to the effect that an adulterer is allowed to marry only an adulteress or idolatress, and vice versa, is absolutely erroneous and contrary to the Big Picture of the Qur'an which lays great emphasis on reform and forgiveness. And it defies all sense. Whereas many translators have maintained that such men and women will end up marrying their like. This is obviously the result of not bearing in mind the meaning of AW and Nikah, and going against common sense. Finally, the Book of God does not downgrade people once they have repented or received penalty. Oh, yet another point! After painting an X-rated scenario of Madinah as if adultery/fornication was going on right and left and coming to public knowledge, in the very life-time of the exalted Prophet, the Imams of the old come up with a horrible joke. They insult Hazrat Ali that he decreed for an adulterer to receive a hundred stripes to fulfill the command in the Qur'an, and then stoned him to death to fulfill the command of Hadith! The so-called Imams also contend that while an unmarried person will receive lashes, a married or mature person must be condemned to death by stoning! Did they not prefer their own whims to the Word of God?]

(Protecting the honor of a woman is extremely important.) Those who accuse chaste women and then fail to produce four witnesses (the court of law shall order to) carry out eighty lashes to such accusers. And never in the future accept their testimony. They have drifted away from morality. [24:23. Faasiq = One who drifts away?from what? Will depend on the context]

Except those who afterward repent and reform. For God is Forgiving, Merciful.

As for those who accuse their wives, but have no witnesses except themselves, then let the accuser call God four times to witness that he is telling the truth.

And the fifth time, that God may reject him if he is telling a lie.

But punishment shall be averted from her if she calls God four times as Witness that he is telling a lie.

And the fifth time, that God may reject her if he is telling the truth. [The court shall then punish neither the husband nor the wife, and it infers that the same procedure applies if the wife accuses her husband. The couple in the presence of the court will decide for or against divorce. This procedure in FIQH is called as LA'AN]

Were it not for God's favor upon you and His grace (your social fabric would have been undone). God is Clement, Wise.