The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 342
CH. 24 AN-NŪR PT. 18 إِلَّا الَّذِينَ تَابُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ ذلِكَ وَأَصْلَحُوا Except those who repent. 6 PALOTELLER thereafter and make amends, for truly Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful. 2595 "4:18. it appears that in such an event the offender must himself testify four times to having committed the crime. In case a man alleges that he has committed adultery the woman implicated will not be held guilty unless she herself admits that she too has committed the crime. This provision is intended to save the good name of innocent men or women from being besmirched by persons of no character who are not ashamed of confessing to having committed adultery in order to implicate other innocent persons along with themselves. Similarly, when a person makes an allegation against another, it is the accuser who is required to produce four witnesses to the crime alleged. The accused person has not to prove his innocence. It is only after four witnesses have been produced that he is asked to produce his defence. If the accuser fails to produce the requisite four witnesses, then both he and the witnesses will be liable to punishment on the plea of having made an allegation for which they had not produced the necessary evidence. The object of such stringent provisions is to discourage the spread of indecent scandals. Such provisions amply refute the criticism that the penalty Islamic Law prescribes for adultery is barbarous. The evidence and the attendant conditions required to prove the commission of adultery فَإِنَّ اللهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمُ ) are, in fact, almost impossible to produce save in cases where the offence is committed openly and in such cases a severe punishment, in order to be deterrent, is certainly very essential. If a person confesses to having committed the crime and repeats his confession four times, he will not be punished if he recants at the time of infliction of the punishment. In such an event, however, the culprit will be liable to punishment for slandering the alleged accessory. The commandment contained in this verse covers both men and women although the word used is which means 'chaste women. ' In the Arabic language when something has to be said which relates equally to both men and women the gender used is masculine. But when something is said regarding a matter which concerns women more than men, then feminine gender is used. The commandment here relates to punishment for slandering whether the victim of the slander is man or woman but as women generally are more often the victims of such slanders, the verse speaks of 'chaste women'. Similarly the word (those) though in masculine gender applies to 2256 both men and women slanderers. 2595. Commentary: Opinions differ as to which of the