If the same two witnesses testify that a man married a woman and then divorced her before consummation, and later confess that they had lied, they must pay the defendant one-half of the dower their testimony had obliged him to pay.
If they testify regarding a woman who is already his wife that he consummated the marriage and later divorced her after consummation—while the husband himself admits the marriage and the divorce but denies consummation—then retract their testimony, they are likewise liable to him for one-half of the dower that became due through their words.
When the woman was a consummated wife and the two witnesses claim that the husband divorced her, but then admit they were lying, they incur no liability, for they have destroyed only the husband’s enjoyment, not his property. A secondary opinion says they must, in this situation, guarantee her an equivalent dower, but the former view is Mālik’s. Should either of the two wish to marry her afterward, he is not permitted to do so.
If they testify that the man has freed his female slave who is under a kitāba contract, and then retract, they must pay the value stipulated in her contract of manumission.
If they testify that he freed his umm walad and afterwards recant, nothing is due from them.
When they bear witness to a wounding, a killing, or any offense that entails stoning, and the accused is executed on the strength of their testimony, then they confess to deliberate perjury, retaliation (qiṣāṣ) is taken from them. If they say, “We were mistaken; the matter was unclear,” they must instead pay the full blood money out of their own wealth. Another opinion holds that blood money is due from their property in every case and that no retaliation is exacted, but the first view is sounder and is the position of Ashhab.
If one of the four witnesses in a charge of fornication recants before the judge rules, all four are flogged with the hadd for false accusation and the hadd for fornication is not enforced. A minority view limits the flogging to the one who withdrew.
If a witness recants after the stoning has already taken place, he must pay one-quarter of the blood money; if a second recants, he must pay one-half, and so on proportionally. All of them are flogged with the hadd for slander, but anyone who now accuses them is not liable to that hadd.
Where more than four people witnessed the act of fornication, and some of them withdraw while enough remain to complete the legal testimony, those who retract bear no financial liability.
In every case, anyone whose testimony destroys another’s property and who then retracts is obliged to make good the loss, even if he was only a single witness.