His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: "And abandon the outward and inward sin. Indeed, those who earn sin will be recompensed for what they used to commit." This is a general prohibition from both sides; for sin encompasses the rulings and ratios related to the sinners from all disobediences. The outward and inward encompass all disobediences. The interpreters have gone to say that the verse is specific in that. Al-Suddi said: Its outward meaning is the well-known fornication that the Arabs used to commit; and its inward meaning is taking companions. And Sa'id ibn Jubair said: The outward is what Allah, the Exalted, has specified as forbidden from women, by His saying: "Prohibited to you are your mothers" [An-Nisa: 23]; the verse; and His saying: "And do not marry those whom your fathers married" [An-Nisa: 22]; the verse; and the inward is fornication. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: He means the nakedness that the Arabs used to do during their Tawaf. Some said: The outward is actions; and the inward is beliefs. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: This is good; for it is general. Then Allah, the Exalted, threatened the earners of sin with recompense for what they have earned from that; and they have borne its burden; and "al-iqtiraf" means earning.