Zina

Zina — fornication — is, for the jurists, intercourse outside ownership and its resemblance, in the form that incurs the hadd once its conditions complete; the schools differ on whether the term covers what does not incur the hadd or only what does. ²

The broader Hanafi definition: a man's intercourse with a woman in the front outside ownership and its resemblance; the narrower being only what incurs the hadd. For the Malikis: an accountable Muslim's intercourse with a human organ over which he has no ownership, knowingly and without resemblance. For the Shafi'is: insertion of the glans or its like into an organ permanently forbidden, naturally desired, without resemblance. For the Hanbalis: the obscene act in front or back. ²

Wat' and jima' are broader — they may constitute lawful marriage. Liwat is insertion into a male's rear and takes the ruling of zina for the majority. Sihaq — what women do with one another — involves no penetration and is below zina. ^{2 3}

Zina is forbidden and among the gravest sins after shirk and murder — "those who do not call on another god with God, nor kill the soul God has forbidden except by right, nor commit zina", and "do not go near zina; it is an obscenity and an evil way". All religious communities agreed on its prohibition — it was licit in none — and its hadd is among the severest, being an assault on honour and lineage within the five universals: religion, life, reason, lineage and property. ^{3 4}