After digging deep into the most authentic Islamic sources, we found a hadith that completely tears apart Islam’s claims of “honour”, “jealousy for chastity”, and “severe punishment for adultery”.
Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 2049 (graded Sahih by Albani): Abdullah ibn Abbas narrates: A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, “O Messenger of Allah! My wife does not stop any man’s hand that touches her (i.e. she sleeps with anyone who wants her).” The Prophet ﷺ said: “Divorce her.” The man replied: “But I love her (she is very beautiful).” The Prophet ﷺ said: “Then keep enjoying her.”
This same hadith has also been narrated through Muhammad’s slave Hisham and the companion Jabir ibn Abdullah. Ibn Kathir recorded the exact same wording from them: A man said, “My wife does not repel the hand of a toucher.” The Prophet ﷺ said, “Divorce her.” He said, “I am attached to her.” The Prophet ﷺ replied: “Then enjoy her.”
The Arabic word “لامس” (toucher) clearly means sexual intercourse – the very same word is used in the Quran with the meaning of intercourse.
Quran 2:237 uses the exact same expression “before you have touched them” to mean “before you have had intercourse with them”. Ibn Kathir himself explains under this verse that “touching” here means penetration (الدخول). Quran 4:43 also uses the same word “or you have touched women” to mean intercourse that makes one ritually impure (junub).
So the meaning is crystal clear: the wife is committing open adultery, but if she is beautiful – keep her and “enjoy her”.
How This Hadith Destroys Islam’s Moral Claims
- First Contradiction On one side: married adulteress = stoned to death by stoning. On the other side: if the adulteress is beautiful = “keep enjoying her for your lust”. Is this Islamic honour or just male desire?
- Second Contradiction During the Ifk slander against Aisha, Muhammad revealed Surah An-Nur verse 26: “Pure women are for pure men and pure men are for pure women.” Yet the same Muhammad now tells a man to keep enjoying an impure wife? So verse 26 only applied to Aisha?
- Third ContradictionSunan an-Nasa’i 2562: The Prophet said: “Allah will not even look at three people on the Day of Resurrection… and the dayyuth (the man who has no jealousy when his wife commits adultery).” In one place the dayyuth is cursed and doomed to Hell. In another place he is given permission to do exactly that!
- What about the child’s lineage? Muslims boast that stoning is prescribed to protect lineage. But here the husband is told to raise the child conceived from another man’s adultery, give him his own name, and let him live with his other wives and daughters (who are now non-mahram to that child). Where did the “protection of lineage” go?
Islamic Apologists’ Excuses – And Their Refutation
Excuse 1: “This hadith is only about a barren woman.” Answer: Not a single version of the hadith mentions barrenness. Abu Dawud’s chapter title is his own opinion, not revelation.
Excuse 2: “There were no four witnesses, so she couldn’t be stoned.” Answer: The issue is not stoning – it is simple divorce. The Prophet himself first ordered divorce. When the man said he was attached to her beauty, the Prophet withdrew the divorce order and told him to satisfy his lust with an adulteress.
Excuse 3: Even Hanafi fiqh books openly admit this: In Durr al-Mukhtar (Vol. 2, Kitab an-Nikah) it is written that it is permissible to marry a known adulteress, and Surah An-Nur verse 3 has been abrogated by the hadith “Then enjoy her”.
Yes – Islamic scholars themselves accept that this hadith cancels a Quranic verse just to accommodate male desire.
Conclusion
Sunan Abu Dawud 2049 proves that in Islam, morality bows down to male lust. On one side they shout about stoning adulteresses, on the other side the Prophet says: “If she’s hot, keep her and keep enjoying her.”
This is not divine guidance. This is a very human ruling from a man driven by desire and forgetfulness.
