When multiple chaste people are collectively slandered in one statement, how many punishments are due?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Ḥudūd (Prescribed Penalties)
Primary text
If a group of chaste individuals are slandered in one utterance, only one punishment is due. This is based on the verse: 'And those who accuse chaste women and then do not bring four witnesses, flog them eighty lashes' (Quran 24:4), as it does not differentiate between slandering one or a group. Furthermore, when the witnesses testified against Al-Mughirah, they slandered one woman, and Umar applied only one punishment. The justification is that it is a single act of slander, so only one hadd is obligatory, as if one person was slandered. The hadd becomes obligatory because of the dishonor brought upon the slandered person; one punishment demonstrates the falsity of the slanderer and removes the dishonor from one of the victims, thus being sufficient. If they demand the punishment collectively, one hadd is applied. If one person demands it, the hadd is applied for him, and the right is satisfied and dropped for the others, as this right is established for them as an alternative, and whoever claims it satisfies it.
Supporting text
If one of the slandered individuals pardons the slanderer, the others retain the right to demand and implement the punishment because the dishonor concerning the pardoning individual has not been removed concerning the others. Another narration from Ahmad suggests that if they demand it all at once, one hadd is applied. If they demand them one after another, one hadd is applied for the first claimant, and if the others subsequently demand it, a hadd is applied for each, because satisfying the right for one individually does not extinguish the right of the others without their satisfaction or pardon.