Is there Punishment for Prepubescent Adultery in the Shafi’i School?

Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick

Question

What is the punishment in the Shafi’i School for prepubescent adultery while married? Would it be punished by Ta‘zir?

Answer

Thank you for your question. The question appears hypothetical in nature and therefore requires much contextualization. Capital punishments, while part of Sacred Law, should never be carried out without legitimate and justice-based court proceedings based on Sacred Law.

Based on the fact that a prepubescent person cannot receive the usual punishment for adultery, a lesser punishment of being scourged one hundred stripes and banishment to a distance of at least eighty kilometers could be prescribed, and Allah knows best. [Nawawi, Minhaj]

I pray that this is beneficial.

[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar, Shaykh Taha Karaan.

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and pursuing his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.