4. False Accusation
This is defined as accusing the chaste, innocent person of fornication or adultery. It also includes denying the lineage of a person from his father (which implies that his parents committed fornication of adultery). False accusation includes any claim of fornication or adultery that is not backed up by a proof acceptable to Islamic Law.
The prescribed punishment for false accusation is given in the following verse of the Qur’ân: "Those who accuse honourable women and bring not four witnesses as an evidence [for their accusation], inflict eighty stripes upon them, and never accept their testimony in future. They indeed are transgressors. But those who repent and mend their ways, Allah is Ever-Forgiving and Most-Merciful." (24:4-5)
The verse prescribes two punishments. The first is eighty lashes. The second is that their testimony will never again be accepted. These two punishments are above and beyond the punishment that they will receive in the Hereafter if they do not repent. These punishments were prescribed to safeguard the reputations of people from being stained by those who have nothing to do except destroy others by circulating damaging rumors.
In order to safeguard honor and reputation, Islam came with two complementary solutions:
A. It inspires the motivational power of faith and the deterrent of moral conscience in its prohibition of backbiting, spying, and suspicion of others. Allah says: "O you who believe, avoid a lot of suspicion, for verily some suspicion is sinful, do not spy, and do not backbite one another." ((49:12)
B. It legislates a fixed, prescribed punishment for false accusation. So whoever is not deterred by faith and fear of Allah will be deterred by the punishment.
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