Does a married woman who has committed adultery remain a lawful wife, or is her marriage annulled and she divorced as a result of her action?

If a married woman commits adultery, her marriage is not dissolved, nor is she divorced. However, her husband is commanded to divorce her if she does not repent and persists in the immorality. Imam Ahmad preferred that a man separate from his adulterous wife for fear that she might corrupt his bed and attribute a child to him who is not his, but it is not forbidden for him to keep her. If a woman commits adultery, her husband should not have intercourse with her until she has purified herself (istibra'), and it is preferable that her purification be sufficient with one menstrual cycle. This is supported by the hadith of Amr ibn al-Ahwas al-Jushami during the Farewell Pilgrimage: "(Treat women well, for they are captives with you, and you do not possess anything from them other than that, unless they commit a clear immorality. If they do so, then abandon them in beds, and strike them with a non-painful strike. If they obey you, then do not seek a way against them.)"