Was adultery forbidden in stages, like alcohol?

Adultery has been forbidden since God created creation, in all religions, due to its obscenity and repulsiveness. Islam has strongly emphasized its prohibition, threatening its perpetrator with the severest punishment. Adultery was not forbidden in stages, like the prohibition of alcohol; rather, its prohibition was definitive from the beginning.

The gradual approach was in the punishment for adultery, not in its prohibition. The punishment was initially abuse and reprimand, then confinement to houses, then the matter settled on flogging the virgin one hundred lashes and exiling for one year, and stoning the married person (one who has consummated marriage) to death.