Surah An-Nur (The Light — النور) (Ayah 4)

If adultery is declared a serious crime, it follows, logically, that falsely accusing a person of adultery must be considered a serious crime too. Therefore, it is laid down that one who accuses another of adultery without being able to prove it, (as prescribed by the rules of the Islamic law), should be whipped eighty times. Moreover, his evidence should be treated thereafter as entirely unacceptable, and, according to the Hanafi School of jurisprudence, the evidence of such a transgressor may never again be legally accepted, even if he repents. Levelling false allegations against anyone is, in fact, an attempt at moral assassination. Severe punishments are prescribed in Islam for such an offence. Even if a wrongdoer escapes punishment in this world, he cannot in any case escape punishment in the life Hereafter, unless he repents and seeks God’s pardon.