Will a non-Muslim be punished for false accusation of adultery?

Question

Islam has a law whereby false accusation of adultery is punished:

Those who accuse chaste women ˹of adultery˺ and fail to produce four witnesses, give them eighty lashes ˹each˺. And do not ever accept any testimony from them—for they are indeed the rebellious

https://quran.com/24/4

Does this law also apply to non-Muslims living under Shariah law?

Answer 1

In this answer I am going to assume that by non-Muslim you mean a Dhimmi and not a Harbi or Musta’min. A Dhimmi is a disbeliever who is a permanent resident of an Islamic state and pays Jizya and has a treaty that grants him protection.

A Dhimmi can be either a culprit or victim of قذف (slander):

• If he\she is a culprit and the victim is a Muslim then the Hadd punishment will apply. That is because the wording of the verse does not differentiate between a Muslim or Kafir accuser:

  والذين يرمون المحصنات ثم لم يأتوا بأربعة شهداء فاجلدوهم ثمانين جلدة ولا تقبلوا لهم شهادة أبدا وأولئك هم الفاسقون

  And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses - lash them with eighty lashes and do not accept from them testimony ever after. And those are the defiantly disobedient,

  ^{— Quran 24:4}

  Nor is there any other text or evidence which excludes a disbeliever from being punished under this verse.

  In general, Dhimmis are subject to Islamic commandments:

  وأن احكم بينهم بما أنزل الله ولا تتبع أهواءهم واحذرهم أن يفتنوك عن بعض ما أنزل الله إليك

  And judge between them (non-Muslims) by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their inclinations and beware of them, lest they tempt you away from some of what Allah has revealed to you.

  ^{— Quran 5:49}

  قاتلوا الذين لا يؤمنون ... حتى يعطوا الجزية عن يد وهم صاغرون

  Fight those who do not believe ... until they pay jizyah with their own hands while they are subdued

  ^{— Quran 9:29}

  الصغار هو جريان أحكام الإسلام عليهم

  Being subdued means the imposition of the laws of Islam upon them

  ^{— Tafsir al-Baghawy}

• If he\she is a victim then the Hadd punishment will not apply rather a Ta'zir punishment will be carried out instead. That is because the verse mentions a prerequisite for the victim that she must be Muhsan (translated here as chaste):

  والذين يرمون المحصنات ثم لم يأتوا بأربعة شهداء فاجلدوهم ثمانين جلدة ولا تقبلوا لهم شهادة أبدا وأولئك هم الفاسقون

  And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses - lash them with eighty lashes and do not accept from them testimony ever after. And those are the defiantly disobedient,

  ^{— Quran 24:4}

  Ihsan has constituents such as being innocent from zina, adult, sane, free and Muslim. According to a hadith a disbeliever does not fulfill the condition of Ihsan, hence the verse does not apply to him:

  من أشرك بالله فليس بمحصن

  Whoever associates others with Allah is not Muhsan

  ^{— Sunan al-Kubra al-Bayhaqi}

  This is further corroborated by analogy and reasoning as the honor and sanctity of a disbeliever is less than a Muslim.

The above is agreed upon by the vast majority, however there exist some rare dissenting stance of some individual scholars such as the stance that a Dhimmi who slanders a Muslim violates their treaty of protection and hence can be executed rather than whipped, and the stance that slander against a Dhimmi woman who is the mother of Muslim children gets the Hadd.

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Ref:

إذا قذف الذمي بالزنا مسلما أو مسلمة فعليه حد القذف، إذا تمت شروطه، باتفاق المذاهب. وإذا قذف المسلم أو المسلمة كافرا، ذميا أو غيره، فلا حد عليه اتفاقا كذلك؛ لأن إحصان المقذوف شرط إقامة الحد، والإحصان شرطه الإسلام. وفي هذه الحالة يعزر القاذف لأجل الفرية

If a Dhimmi falsely accuses a Muslim man or Muslim woman of committing Zina then the Hadd of Qadhf shall apply as long as the other conditions are met, by the agreement of the schools of thought.

And if a Muslim man or Muslim woman slanders a disbeliever, Dhimmi or otherwise, then there is no Hadd on the culprit, also by agreement; for Ihsan of the victim is a condition for the enforcement of the Hadd and being a follower of Islam is a condition of Ihsan. And in this situation the false accuser will be punished by Ta'zir instead.

^{— Mawsoo’ah al-Fiqhiyyah}

وأما الذمي فيجب عليه جميع الحدود اتفاقا إلا حد الخمر

As for a Dhimmi it is obligatory to impose on him all legal punishments and this is agreed upon, except the Hadd of drinking wine

^{— Al-Bahr ar-Raiq}