Abdur Rahman Sulaymi reported that during his sermon Sayyidina Ali (RA) said “0 people! Apply the prescribed punishment on your slaves (too) those of whom who are married and those who are not married. Indeed, a female slave of Allah’s Messenger had commited fornication and he ordered me to give her the lashes. I went to her but she was having lochia and I feared that if I lashed her O might kill her (or, he said, she might die). So, I came to Allah’s Messenger (SAW) and mentioned that. He said you have done well.” [Bukhari 6837, Muslim 1704]