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wa-dharū ẓāhira l-ʾithmi wa-bāṭinahū ʾinna lladhīna yaksibūna l-ʾithma sa-yujzawna bi-mā kānū yaqtarifūna
Renounce outward sins and the inward ones. Indeed those who commit sins shall be requited for what they used to commit.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-‘An’am, Verse 120
120. "And abandon outward sin and the inward one; verily those who commit sin soon shall be recompensed with what they used to commit."
Since some people usually commit this unlawful action (fornication) hidden, following that meaning, in this verse, as a general law, the Qur'an says:
It is said that at the Age of Ignorance some people believed that fornication was not a vice when it was done secretly, and it was considered a sin when it was committed manifestly. Even now, in the present century, there are some persons who have practically accepted this logic of the Age of Ignorance, and they fear committing only the outward sins. Such people, having no feeling of incommodity, easily commit some hidden sins. The above-mentioned verse seriously condemns this logic.
Then, as a remembrance, the verse warns the sinners to the evil fate that waits for them, and says: