Light (Al-Noor)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ A Surah [is this] which We have bestowed from on high, and which We have laid down in plain terms; and in it have We bestowed from on high messages which are clear [in themselves,] so that you might keep [them] in mind. 1 The adulteress and adulterer should be flogged a hundred lashes each, and no pity for them should deter you from the law of God, if you believe in God and the Last Day; and the punishment should be witnessed by a body of believers. 2 The adulterer marries not but an adulteress or a Mushrikah and the adulteress none marries her except an adulterer or a Muskrik [and that means that the man who agrees to marry (have a sexual relation with) a Mushrikah (female polytheist, pagan or idolatress) or a prostitute, then surely he is either an adulterer, or a Mushrik (polytheist, pagan or idolater, etc.) And the woman who agrees to marry (have a sexual relation with) a Mushrik (polytheist, pagan or idolater) or an adulterer, then she is either a prostitute or a Mushrikah (female polytheist, pagan, or idolatress, etc.)]. Such a thing is forbidden to the believers (of Islamic Monotheism). 3 And those who cast it up on women in wedlock, and then bring not four witnesses, scourge them with eighty stripes, and do not accept any testimony of theirs ever; those -- they are the ungodly, 4 except that of those who afterwards repent and reform themselves; God is All-forgiving and All-merciful. 5 And for those who launch a charge against their spouses, and have (in support) no evidence but their own,- their solitary evidence (can be received) if they bear witness four times (with an oath) by Allah that they are solemnly telling the truth; 6 And (swear) a fifth time that if he tell a lie the curse of God be on him. 7 The wife shall receive no punishment, if she bears witness four times in the name of God that her husband has lied 8 And the fifth time, that the wrath of Allah be upon her if the man is truthful. 9 Were it not for God's grace and His mercy upon you, [you would have come to grief] and God is wise, acceptor of repentance. 10