Back to search

How can a Muslim absolve himself from the punishment for false accusation if he has accused someone of adultery and wishes to repent?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The punishment for slander (qadhf) is eighty lashes, based on Allah’s Almighty 말씀 (قوله تعالى): (And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses - lash them with eighty lashes) An-Nur/4. The punishment for slander is dropped from the slanderer in the following cases: 1. If he produces four witnesses to the adultery of the slandered person. 2. If the slandered person confesses to adultery. 3. If the slanderer is the husband and he slanders his wife, the punishment is dropped through li'an (mutual imprecation). 4. If the slandered person pardons their right and requests that the punishment not be inflicted upon the slanderer.

So, if a man falsely slanders another, the only way for him to avoid the punishment is to apologize and seek forgiveness from the slandered person.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy