Chapter on the Ḥadd for Slander (Qadhf)

Whoever accuses another of fornication is liable to the ḥadd for slander: eighty lashes if he is free,3 and forty if he is enslaved.

This penalty is established only when nine conditions are met:

Four pertain to the accuser: he must be legally adult, sane, acting by his own choice, and not a parent of the person accused, no matter how far removed the lineage—just as in cases of retaliation.4

Five pertain to the accused: he must be free, Muslim, sane, chaste from fornication, and of an age capable of intercourse, both as one who has intercourse and with whom intercourse could normally occur.5

A minor who makes such an accusation is not subjected to the ḥadd until he reaches puberty, because the right involved in the ḥadd for slander