The wisdom behind limiting the removal of the hadd for qadhf (false accusation of adultery) to the husband—once he has undertaken liʿan—is that he may genuinely need, and at times be forced, to level such a charge: to deny the paternity of children who are not his, to protect his own rights, and to safeguard the sanctity of his marital bed. As for a slanderer who is not the husband, if he accuses another person of adultery, Allah has prescribed for him: “Those who accuse chaste women and then fail to produce four witnesses—flog them with eighty lashes, and never again accept their testimony, for they are defiantly disobedient, except for those who repent…” (al-Nur 4–5).