4:15

Salaam all,

This is 4:15
وَاللاَّتِي يَأْتِينَ الْفَاحِشَةَ مِن نِّسَآئِكُمْ فَاسْتَشْهِدُواْ عَلَيْهِنَّ أَرْبَعةً مِّنكُمْ فَإِن شَهِدُواْ فَأَمْسِكُوهُنَّ فِي الْبُيُوتِ حَتَّىَ يَتَوَفَّاهُنَّ الْمَوْتُ أَوْ يَجْعَلَ اللّهُ لَهُنَّ سَبِيلاً
Waallatee yateena alfahishata min nisaikum faistashhidoo AAalayhinna arbaAAatan minkum fain shahidoo faamsikoohunna fee albuyooti hatta yatawaffahunna almawtu aw yajAAala Allahu lahunna sabeelan

The aya says:
And those amongst your women who commit the ugly deed, then seek four witnesses on them. So, if they witnessed, then hold them (the women) in the homes until death takes them or Allah makes a path for them.

My personal note:
Al fahishata is a word that has the conceptual meaning of ugly word or deed or the word or deed that crossed the boundary of great ugliness and inappropriateness. In the context of this Aya, it is pointing to sexual acts that are outside of what is legally sanctioned.

It also establishes that no punishment is given if less than four witnesses are present. This makes the act has to happen in a public sphere for it to be punished.

The Aya gives the impression that this punishment is waiting for further orders to come. Those orders came later in Sura nour for the punishment of adultery for males and females.

Translation of the transliterated words:
Waallatee: and those women who
Yateena: make come/ bring about/ do
Note: the root is Hamza-T-Y and it means in concrete the water that comes from the rain of another land. In concrete it means the coming of something or someone with many of it’s implications. YATEENA is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of making come or bringing about the object (Alfahisha= the ugly deed or word) is happening of will be happening by the subject (third person plural feminine).

Alfahishata: the ugly word or deed
Note: the root is F-Ha-SH and it means: the ugly word or deed or any word or deed that has exceeded the border of decency and appropriateness. The term is often used related to sexual acts, but it is not limited to it. ALFAHISHATA is the ugly word or deed including sexually. In the context of this Aya, it is pointing mainly to a sexual act.
Min: of/ from
Nisaikum: your women
Note: the word means the women. It has two potential roots that may be related to it. The first N-S-Y and it is the one used for women. This same root is used for the sciatic nerve as a concrete word and for forgetting. The relation between the different meanings is only in an indirect manner. Another root is N-S-Hamza and it means putting things behind in time or space of delaying things. Concrete words are the women that have a delay in the menses because of possibility of pregnancy. NISAI means women of. KUM means plural you.
Faistashhidoo: then seek witnesses/ obtain witnesses.
Note: Fa means then or therefore or so. ISTASHHIDOO is derived from the root SH-H-D and it means witnessing of truth and it also denotes that the witness knows very well what he or she is witnessing about. The concrete meaning is the honey mixed with wax. Another concrete meaning is the baby that was just born and is covered with a membrane. In both examples, there is close association between the two objects as to act as witnesses of each other. Conceptually, the word is used for witnessing of truth and of detailed knowledge as to be able to witness. ISTASHHIDOO is an order or a request addressed to a plural. It means: seek witnessing or obtain witnessing.
AAalayhinna: on them/ upon them (plural feminine).
arbaAAatan: four
Note: the root is R-B-Ain and it means four and so on. ARBaAAaTAN means four.
Minkum: of you/ from you (plural you)
Fain: therefore if.
Shahidoo: they witnessed
Note: the root is SH-H-D and it means witnessing of truth and it also denotes that the witness knows very well what he or she is witnessing about. The concrete meaning is the honey mixed with wax. Another concrete meaning is the baby that was just born and is covered with a membrane. In both examples, there is close association between the two objects as to act as witnesses of each other. Conceptually, the word is used for witnessing of truth and of detailed knowledge as to be able to witness. SHAHIDOO is an action that is completed. It means: the action of witnessing happened by the subject (third person plural).
Faamsikoohunna: then hold them
Note: FA means therefore or then or so. AMSIKOOHUNNA is derived from the root M-S-K skin of the animal or bracelet around the wrist. Those are the concrete meanings and other meanings are gripping something or holding on to something. What connects all the meanings is something that surrounds the body and holds it together whether skin, bracelet or just a grip. AMSIKOO is an order form of the verb that is addressing a group and it means make yourselves hold or hold on. HUNNA means a feminine them. So, AMSIKOOHUNNA means hold on to them (feminine).
Fee: in
Albuyooti: the homes/ the shelters.
Note: the root is B-Y-T and it means to reach the night and BAYT is the place that you spend the night in. It is also used for any structure that can be used for that purpose and for animal dwellings. Therefore BAYT is closer to a shelter as the conceptual meaning and within that meaning falls the home or the house. ALBUYOOTI are the homes or the shelters.
Hatta: until
Yatawaffahunna: he takes them/ he makes them meet dues
Note: the root is W-F-Y and it means meeting dues. This then takes different meanings according to the plane of thought of the sentence. One meaning could be death since it is a meeting of dues, or just a taking of someone or something depending on the situation, or other forms of meeting dues. YATAWAFFAHUNA is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of making the object (Hunna= plural feminine) meet dues is happening or will be happening by the subject (ALMAWTU= death). So, here the meeting of the dues is taking them by death.
Almawtu: the death
Note: the root is M-W-T and it means death or the opposite of life or the lack of voluntary movement. ALMAWTU is the death.
Aw: OR
YajAAala: He makes
Note: YAJaAALA is derived from the root J-Ain-L and it means making. YAJaAALA is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of making is happening or will be happening by the subject (third person singular) pointing to Allah.
Allahu: Allah
Lahunna: to them/ for them
Sabeelan: a path/ easy path
Note: the root is S-B-L and it means and it means flowing water from the falling rain from the sky to the flowing water in the river and so forth. This is the concrete and the other uses are related as in path, which allows the flow, to soft flowing hair and so forth. SABEELAN is the flowing water or the path. It takes the meaning of path or even the trip on the path.

Salaam all and have a great day

Hussein