1562 – On his authority he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say, “Whoever accuses his slave of adultery, the prescribed ḥadd (legal punishment) will be enforced upon him on the Day of Resurrection—unless the accusation is in fact true.” Agreed upon.
1563 – On his authority he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say, “Whoever accuses his slave of adultery, the prescribed ḥadd will be enforced upon him on the Day of Resurrection—unless the accusation is in fact true.” Agreed upon.
[Explanation]
The compiler, Imām al-Nawawī (may Allah have mercy on him), places these traditions in Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn under the chapter, “The Prohibition of Reviling a Muslim Without Right.” He brings several ḥadiths and, before them, a Qur’ānic verse. The final narration is from Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), in which the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Whoever accuses his slave of adultery will have the ḥadd carried out upon him on the Day of Judgment, unless it is exactly as he claimed.”
The mamlūk (slave) is a person wholly owned by another; like merchandise he may be bought, sold, given as a gift, pledged, or endowed. Yet in the rulings of Allah he and the free person stand equal, except in financial matters.
The master owns the slave’s very person—his “neck,” as the jurists say—and the benefits he provides. Thus, if a master slanders his slave by saying, “You adulterer,” “You sodomite,” or similar words of qadhf (false sexual accusation), he is not punished with the ḥadd in this world, for he is the owner and the slave is his property. In the next world, however—whose torment is far more severe, Allah protect us—the ḥadd will be enforced upon him on the Day of Resurrection.
Accordingly, accusing a slave of adultery counts among the major sins, for any act that carries a stipulated punishment in the Hereafter is deemed a major sin, as the scholars have clarified in defining what constitutes a major offense.
If, on the other hand, the slave has truly committed adultery and his master accuses him of it, then no ḥadd falls upon the master, in keeping with the Prophet’s words, “unless it is as he claimed,” meaning the charge is accurate—but