or dinar, but only good and evil deeds. If he has good deeds, [recompense will be taken from them]; otherwise, some of his companion’s evil deeds will be taken and laid upon him, and then he will be cast into the Fire”—or words to that effect.

This concerns compensation of which the wronged person is aware. But if someone backbites or slanders another without that person knowing, it has been said that informing him is a condition of repentance. It has also been said that this is not required; this is the majority view. Both positions are reported from Ahmad. His view in such a case, however, is that one should do good for the wronged person, such as supplicating for him, seeking forgiveness for him, and performing a righteous deed whose reward one dedicates to him, to make amends for backbiting and slandering him.

Al-Hasan al-Basrī said:

“The expiation for backbiting is to seek forgiveness for the person you have backbitten.”

As for sins concerning which the jurists state without qualification that repentance is not accepted, examples include the majority’s statement, “The repentance of a zindīq—that is, a hypocrite—is not accepted”; their statement that if a muhārib (one who wages war) repents before he is apprehended, the prescribed punishments pertaining to Allah’s rights are waived; and the similar position held by many or most of them concerning other crimes. This is one of al-Shāfiʿī’s two positions and the more correct of the two reports from Ahmad. They also say concerning such offenders, “If they repent after their cases have been referred to the ruler, their repentance is not accepted.”

By this they mean only the lifting of the punishment prescribed for them. That is, their repentance is not accepted in the sense of allowing the offender to go free without punishment. Rather, he is punished, either because the sincerity of his repentance is unknown and he is suspected of lying about it, or because lifting the punishment on that basis would lead to the violation of sacred prohibitions and prevent crimes from being punished. They do not mean that if any of these people sincerely repents, Allah will not accept his repentance inwardly; for