15 Preface وَاللّاتي يَأتينَ الفاحِشَةَ مِن نِسائِكُم فَاستَشهِدوا عَلَيهِنَّ أَربَعَةً مِنكُم ۖ فَإِن شَهِدوا فَأَمسِكوهُنَّ فِي البُيوتِ حَتّىٰ يَتَوَفّاهُنَّ المَوتُ أَو يَجعَلَ اللَّهُ لَهُنَّ سَبيلًاAhmed AliIf any of your women is guilty of unnatural offence, bring four of your witnesses to give evidence; if they testify against them, retain them in the houses1 until death overtakes them or God provides some other way for them. The meaning of this verse resides in key words, masaka and bai’t, pl. buyut. Masaka means to retain; and imsak has been used in the Qur’an in the sense of keeping within the bond of marriage. See 2:229 where imsak has been used for keeping as wives, as antonym of tasrib. Ba’it means a place where one takes shelter at night, hence, house or home. Al-ba’it means to marry; Taj as baitur-rajul means a man’s wife, also his family.