Ḥadd of Qadhf (Accusation of Adultery) and the Difference Between a Slave and a Free Person
✍ Written by: Imran Ayub Lahori
❀ Definition and Meaning of Qadhf
- Linguistic Meaning: The word qadhf means "to accuse, to throw (a charge)." It comes from the verb qaḏafa–yaqḏifu (from ḍarb pattern) meaning "to accuse." From mufāʿalah pattern (qāḏafa–yuqāḏifu) it means "to accuse one another," and from istifʿāl pattern (istaqḏafa–yastaqḏifu) it means "to accuse."
[al-Munjid: p. 676; al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ: p. 759] - Sharʿī Definition: A person’s accusing another of committing adultery (zinā) is called qadhf.
[al-Fiqh al-Islāmī wa Adillatuhu: 7/5398]
❀ Gravity of the Sin
Qadhf is a major sin (kabīrah), and its seriousness is established from Qur’an and Sunnah:
➊ Allah Almighty says:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَرْمُونَ الْمُحْصَنَاتِ الْغَافِلَاتِ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ لُعِنُوا فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ [al-Nūr: 23]
"Indeed, those who accuse chaste, unaware, believing women are cursed in this world and the Hereafter."
➋ Hazrat Abū Hurairah (رضي الله عنه) reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
"Avoid the seven destructive sins." Among them he mentioned:
قذف المحصنات المؤمنات الغافلات
"Accusing chaste, believing, and unaware women (of adultery)."
[Bukhārī: 6857, Kitāb al-Ḥudūd, Bāb Ramy al-Muḥṣanāt]
➌ When Hazrat ʿĀʾishah (رضي الله عنها) was accused, those involved (Hazrat Ḥassān رضي الله عنه, Hazrat Miṣṭaḥ رضي الله عنه, and Hazrat Ḥamnah bint Jaḥsh رضي الله عنها) were punished with the ḥadd of qadhf by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).
[Ḥasan: Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Mājah: 2081; Aḥmad: 6/352; Abū Dāwūd: 4474, Kitāb al-Ḥudūd, Bāb fī Ḥadd al-Qadhf; Tirmidhī: 3181; Ibn Mājah: 2567]
❀ Qur’anic Punishment
Allah Almighty says:
وَالَّذِينَ يَرْمُونَ الْمُحْصَنَاتِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَأْتُوا بِأَرْبَعَةِ شُهَدَاءَ فَاجْلِدُوهُمْ ثَمَانِينَ جَلْدَةً [al-Nūr: 4]
"And those who launch a charge against chaste women, then do not produce four witnesses — flog them with eighty stripes."
Imām Shawkānī (رحمه الله) states: On this matter, there is ijmāʿ (consensus) of Muslims.
[al-Sayl al-Jarrār: 4/341]
❀ The Issue of the Slave
- Majority of Scholars (Jumhūr): The slave is given half the punishment, i.e., 40 lashes, based on reports from the Khulafāʾ Rāshidīn.
Hazrat ʿAbdullāh bin ʿĀmir (رضي الله عنه) said:
"I never saw Hazrat ʿUmar, Hazrat ʿUthmān, or any of the caliphs after them give their slaves more than forty lashes in qadhf."
[Muwaṭṭaʾ: 2/828]
- Hazrat Ibn Masʿūd (رضي الله عنه), Imām Layth (رحمه الله), Imām al-Zuhrī (رحمه الله), Imām al-Awzāʿī (رحمه الله), and ʿUmar bin ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (رحمه الله): The slave receives the full punishment (80 lashes) due to the generality of the verse:
وَالَّذِينَ يَرْمُونَ … [al-Nūr: 4]
[Fatḥ al-Bārī: 15/495; Subul al-Salām: 4/1697]
- Ibn Ḥazm (رحمه الله): He also held that the slave receives the full 80 lashes.
[al-Muḥallā bil-Āthār: 12/71] - Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān (رحمه الله): The verse which mentions half the punishment relates to zinā, not qadhf:
فَإِنْ أَتَيْنَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ فَعَلَيْهِنَّ نِصْفُ… [al-Nisāʾ: 25]
Hence, qiyās (analogy) is not valid, and a slave should also be punished with the full 80 lashes.
[al-Rawḍah al-Nadiyyah: 2/607]
- Imām al-Ṣanʿānī (رحمه الله): Also held that the slave receives the full punishment.
[Subul al-Salām: 4/1697] - Sayyid Sābiq (رحمه الله): Same opinion.
[Fiqh al-Sunnah: 2/535] - Jumhūr and Ibn Ḥajar (رحمه الله): Insist that the slave receives half the punishment — 40 lashes — whether male or female.
[Fatḥ al-Bārī: 15/495]
◈ Preferred Opinion (Rājiḥ Qawl)
The stronger opinion is that a slave is given the full punishment (80 lashes) in the case of qadhf, as held by Ibn Masʿūd (رضي الله عنه) and others, supported by the generality of the Qur’anic verse.
