belongs to the individual, and therefore it is not carried out unless he himself requests it. Whoever slanders a person who is not chaste is disciplined with a discretionary punishment. The ḥadd in this case—as well as for drinking and for taghrīr (enticement)—is established by one of two means: a single confession or the testimony of two upright witnesses.

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The ḥadd for slander is cancelled in four situations: if the slandered person pardons him, if he confirms the accusation, if the accuser produces evidence, or through liʿān.

Slander may be unlawful, obligatory, or merely permissible. It is forbidden1 in the situations mentioned above. It becomes obligatory when a man sees his wife committing adultery and she later gives birth to a child, and the strong likelihood2—because the child resembles the adulterer—convinces him that it resulted from that act. It is permissible if he sees her committing adultery yet she bears no child whose paternity he would be obliged to deny; in that case, separating from her is preferable.

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Explicit slander includes saying: ya manyūka (you promiscuous woman), ya manyūk (you promiscuous man), ya zānī (you adulterer), ya ʿāhir (you fornicator), ya lūṭī (you sodomite), or, “You are not the son of so-and-so,” which constitutes slander against his mother. Indirect slander would be to say: “Your hands fornicated,” “Your legs fornicated,” “Your hand,” “Your leg,”3 or “Your body.”