Such of your women as commit indecency, call four of you to witness against them; and if they witness, then detain them in their houses until death takes them or God appoints for them a way. 15 And as for those twain of you who commit it, hurt them both; then, if they repent and amend, turn away from them; verily Allah is Relenting, Merciful. 16 Allah accepts only the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance and foolishness and repent soon afterwards; it is they to whom Allah will forgive and Allah is Ever All-Knower, All-Wise. 17 But (He does not accept) the repentance of those who continue indulging in evil until death draws near and they say: "We now repent;" nor of those who die disbelieving. For them We have a grievous retribution in wait. 18 O People who Believe! It is not lawful for you to forcibly become the women’s heirs; and do not restrain women with the intention of taking away a part of bridal money you gave them, unless they openly commit the shameful; and deal kindly with them; and if you do not like them, so it is possible that you dislike a thing in which Allah has placed abundant good. 19 If you want to divorce a woman so that you can marry another, do not take back the dowry which you had paid even if what you paid was a large amount of gold. To do this is a slanderous act and a manifest sin. 20 And how can ye take it back when one of you hath gone in unto the other, and they have obtained from you a rigid bond! 21 And marry not those women whom your fathers married, except what hath already happened (of that nature) in the past. Lo! it was ever lewdness and abomination, and an evil way. 22