and the person falsely accused says: “My honor has been defiled, whether the accuser is free or a slave.”
In my view, the correct position is the second: he is to be given eighty lashes, whether he is free or a slave. The evidence is the general wording of Allah’s saying:
“And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses—lash them with eighty lashes.” [al-Nur: 4]
Moreover, there is no reason for halving the punishment in the case of a slave when the ruling relates to someone else. This differs from fornication; thus, the analogy is invalid.
“A person partially emancipated is treated in proportion to his freedom; accusing one who is not legally deemed chaste entails discretionary discipline; and it is a right belonging to the person falsely accused …”
His statement, “A person partially emancipated is treated in proportion to his freedom,” means that if a person is partly free and partly enslaved, he is to be lashed in proportion to the forty lashes. Thus, if half of him is free, then—according to the author’s view—he is given forty lashes as a free person and twenty as a slave, making sixty in total. The difference between the two prescribed punishments is added in proportion to his degree of freedom.
But how can a person be half free and half enslaved? This can occur when a slave is jointly owned by several partners and one of them emancipates his share, while the other partners are poor, as is the emancipating partner. In that case, whatever portion has been emancipated becomes free.
His statement, “Accusing one who is not legally deemed chaste entails discretionary discipline,” refers to the third category of punishment for the false accuser. If he falsely accuses someone who is not legally deemed chaste, he is subject to discretionary discipline. Discretionary discipline means correction, and it has no fixed measure. Later, Allah willing, the disagreement will be discussed as to whether it may exceed ten lashes or not, and which view is correct.
His statement, “And it is a right belonging to the person falsely accused”: “it,” meaning the prescribed punishment for false accusation, “is a right