Is there punishment for accusing a large, unspecified group of adultery?

General Chapter

Al-Mughni

Book of Ḥudūd (Prescribed Penalties)

Book 51 · Issue 2 · Bab 1

Open in Qurani

Primary text

If an individual accuses a large group of people from a town, such that it is impossible for all of them to be truthfully accused of fornication, there is no Hadd imposed. This is because, given the known falsehood of the general accusation, the accuser has only attached disgrace to himself, not to any specific, identifiable person among the accused.