—if the accusation is levelled at a Muslim; this is the soundest report from Mālik and the view we adopt.

Whoever falsely accuses a free Muslim woman—young or old—of fornication, so long as a girl of her age could normally be consummated with even if she has not yet begun to menstruate, is subject to the full ḥadd, in accordance with the rulings for free persons and slaves mentioned earlier.

With Mālik, the manner of flogging in all ḥadd penalties is the same: the offender is struck on the back after being stripped of outer garments, each lash falling between harshness and leniency, never so severe as to tear the flesh.

If the slanderer is a girl approaching puberty (murāhiqa), no ḥadd is imposed upon her until she actually attains it.

Likewise, no ḥadd is due on one who slanders a slave, a disbeliever, a small child, an insane person, or a eunuch. The ḥadd becomes obligatory only for one of two reasons: (1) severing the lineage of a Muslim whose parentage is well-known, or (2) accusing him personally of fornication—or anything equivalent to it.

No ḥadd is incurred by someone who denies that a man is his mother’s son.

If a person confesses to fornication without naming a particular woman and then retracts, the ḥadd is waived. Should he specify a woman, he is first lashed for qadhf in her regard, then for fornication unless he retracts—except when the woman claims he forced her, in which case he bears only the ḥadd for fornication.

Whoever says to another, “You son of a prostitute,” is liable to the ḥadd for slander; the victim need not furnish proof that his mother was free or chaste. If, however, the slanderer produces evidence that would exempt him—such as the mother’s being a slave, an unbeliever, or someone actually guilty of fornication—the ḥadd is lifted; otherwise, he is lashed for qadhf.

If a man’s tribal affiliation is denied and his lineage is not widely recognized, the slanderer is not punished until that lineage is verified. But whoever denies a Muslim’s paternity—claiming he is not his father’s son—receives the ḥadd, regardless of whether the father is Muslim or not, free or enslaved. In every case of denying paternity, the status of the mother is taken into account.

Anyone who, in the course of insulting, denies the son born after liʿān (mutual imprecation) his father, thereby slandering the mother, is lashed with the ḥadd. The same applies to one who denies a rape-conceived child his rapist-father, for he has slandered the mother. Whoever employs insinuation while insulting is liable to the same ḥadd.