The stoning to death punishment existed way before Islam - it was a Jewish law, as dictated in the Old Testament.
The Prophet Muhammad continued implementing that law until a new revelation came regarding the punishment for adultery, which is now 100 lashes for both male and female. The Quran doesn't say anything about stoning the adulterers at all. The punishment is 100 lashes, and there has to be at least 4 witnesses who saw the act in order to implement a lashing (which is extremely unlikely to happen), OR that the adulterers confessed their sin to someone (which they shouldn't), but if neither of those conditions are met, then the lashing punishment cannot be enforced if even they are actually guilty of adultery.
And the punishment for a slave girl is half of that punishment (per Surah 4:25) - which is 50 lashes - so it wouldn't make sense to say that slave girls should get "half the punishment of stoning to death" if stoning was really the punishment prescribed by the Quran. What could be "half" the punishment of stoning to death?
Most Muslims and the majority of scholars do believe that stoning for adultery is a part of Shariah (I used to believe that also), but they support that opinion by citing only 3 or 4 hadiths, where the Prophet himself ordered to carry out the punishment after the adulterers confessed their sins to him. However, those hadiths do not tell us whether or not the stoning punishments took place before or after the Quranic revelations on adultery. So, it is very much possible that the stoning law may have been abrogated after the Quranic verses on adultery were revealed.
Also, a lot Muslims argue that the lashing punishment is for unmarried adulterers only, and that the stoning punishment is for married adulterers. But the Quran simply says that the punishment of lashing is for both a "man" and a "woman" who have been proven to commit adultery (by 4 witnesses), and thus the punishment can apply to any man or a woman regardless of whether they are married or unmarried.
Such a dangerous punishment (stoning to death) would have been mentioned in the Quran if that is really the punishment in Islam, anyways. And it doesn't seem logical to me that the Quran would include so many lesser punishments (100 lashes, 50 lashes, 80 lashes, cutting off hands, etc.) and leave out the greatest and the most severe punishment of all (stoning), which we should be most aware of.
The Prophet Muhammad continued implementing that law until a new revelation came regarding the punishment for adultery, which is now 100 lashes for both male and female. The Quran doesn't say anything about stoning the adulterers at all. The punishment is 100 lashes, and there has to be at least 4 witnesses who saw the act in order to implement a lashing (which is extremely unlikely to happen), OR that the adulterers confessed their sin to someone (which they shouldn't), but if neither of those conditions are met, then the lashing punishment cannot be enforced if even they are actually guilty of adultery.
And the punishment for a slave girl is half of that punishment (per Surah 4:25) - which is 50 lashes - so it wouldn't make sense to say that slave girls should get "half the punishment of stoning to death" if stoning was really the punishment prescribed by the Quran. What could be "half" the punishment of stoning to death?
Most Muslims and the majority of scholars do believe that stoning for adultery is a part of Shariah (I used to believe that also), but they support that opinion by citing only 3 or 4 hadiths, where the Prophet himself ordered to carry out the punishment after the adulterers confessed their sins to him. However, those hadiths do not tell us whether or not the stoning punishments took place before or after the Quranic revelations on adultery. So, it is very much possible that the stoning law may have been abrogated after the Quranic verses on adultery were revealed.
Also, a lot Muslims argue that the lashing punishment is for unmarried adulterers only, and that the stoning punishment is for married adulterers. But the Quran simply says that the punishment of lashing is for both a "man" and a "woman" who have been proven to commit adultery (by 4 witnesses), and thus the punishment can apply to any man or a woman regardless of whether they are married or unmarried.
Such a dangerous punishment (stoning to death) would have been mentioned in the Quran if that is really the punishment in Islam, anyways. And it doesn't seem logical to me that the Quran would include so many lesser punishments (100 lashes, 50 lashes, 80 lashes, cutting off hands, etc.) and leave out the greatest and the most severe punishment of all (stoning), which we should be most aware of.
