Hazrat Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), in the explanation of the verse of the Holy Qur'an { اَلزَّانِیْ لَا یَنْکِحُ اِلَّا زَانِیَۃً }, states that in this verse, "nikah" refers to intercourse.

Ibrahim, in the commentary of the verse { اَلزَّانِیْ لَا یَنْکِحُ اِلَّا زَانِیَۃً } of the Holy Qur'an, states that only an adulterer or a polytheist has intercourse with an adulteress or a polytheist woman.

Hazrat Saeed bin Jubair, in the commentary of the verse { اَلزَّانِیْ لَا یَنْکِحُ اِلَّا زَانِیَۃً } of the Holy Quran, states that these women used to engage in lewdness in Mecca before Islam. People would marry them and spend on them. When Islam came, some Muslim men also wished to marry them, so the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) declared marriage with these women to be forbidden.

Hazrat Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with both of them), in the explanation of the verse of the Holy Qur'an { اَلزَّانِیْ لَا یَنْکِحُ اِلَّا زَانِیَۃً }, says that an adulterer commits adultery only with an adulteress or a polytheist woman, but Allah Almighty has stated this matter figuratively.

Hazrat Mujahid, in the commentary of the verse { اَلزَّانِیْ لَا یَنْکِحُ اِلَّا زَانِیَۃً } of the Holy Qur'an, states that it refers to the women who practiced prostitution during the age of ignorance. When these women were informed that this is forbidden, they intended to marry. However, Allah Almighty declared marriage with them unlawful for Muslims.