Short answer
Slander (buhtan) is saying something false about a person that harms them. It is worse than backbiting, which is saying something true they would dislike. Slander is a major sin, and falsely accusing someone of zina carries a fixed punishment in Islamic law. Repentance requires clearing the person's name.
Buhtan is haram and a major sin, since it joins lying with harming a Muslim. Accusing a chaste person of zina without four witnesses (qadhf) is a hadd crime with eighty lashes in an Islamic court. Repentance needs the victim's pardon and correcting the lie before those who heard it.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- The testimony of a person punished for qadhf is accepted again once he repents.
- Maliki
- The testimony of a person punished for qadhf is accepted again once he repents.
- Hanbali
- The testimony of a person punished for qadhf is accepted again once he repents.
Explanation
The Prophet ﷺ asked the Companions if they knew what backbiting is. He said it is mentioning your brother with what he dislikes. When asked, 'What if it is true?', he said: if it is true you have backbitten him, and if it is not true you have slandered him (buhtan). So slander is a lie plus backbiting.
The Quran says that those who harm believing men and women for what they did not earn carry slander and a clear sin. When the false accusation against Aisha spread, Allah rebuked the believers for passing it on with their tongues, thinking it was small when with Allah it was enormous. They should have said, 'This is a great slander.'
Forms it takes today:
- false rumours about someone's honour, marriage or faith;
- fake reviews and posts accusing a person or business of things they did not do;
- sharing an accusation you have not checked, which makes you part of it;
- blaming someone else for your own mistake at work or school.
Accusing a chaste man or woman of zina without four witnesses is called qadhf. Allah set eighty lashes for it, and the accuser's testimony is not accepted again. In the Hanafi school this holds even after he repents; the other schools accept it once he repents. That punishment is only carried out by an Islamic court, but the sin is just as real anywhere.
To repent: stop, admit the lie to the people who heard it, ask the person's forgiveness and pray for them. Slander involves a person's right, so tawbah to Allah alone is not enough. The four schools agree that slander is haram. See also backbiting and sharing unverified news.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Ahzaab 33:58
وَٱلَّذِينَ يُؤْذُونَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنَٰتِ بِغَيْرِ مَا ٱكْتَسَبُوا۟ فَقَدِ ٱحْتَمَلُوا۟ بُهْتَٰنًۭا وَإِثْمًۭا مُّبِينًۭا ﴿٥٨﴾
And those who harm believing men and believing women for [something] other than what they have earned have certainly born upon themselves a slander and manifest sin.
Harming believers with false claims is a slander and clear sin.
Quran, Surah An-Noor 24:15
إِذْ تَلَقَّوْنَهُۥ بِأَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَتَقُولُونَ بِأَفْوَاهِكُم مَّا لَيْسَ لَكُم بِهِۦ عِلْمٌۭ وَتَحْسَبُونَهُۥ هَيِّنًۭا وَهُوَ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ عَظِيمٌۭ ﴿١٥﴾
When you received it with your tongues and said with your mouths that of which you had no knowledge and thought it was insignificant while it was, in the sight of Allah, tremendous.
Spreading a false accusation is grave even when it feels small.
Quran, Surah An-Noor 24:4
وَٱلَّذِينَ يَرْمُونَ ٱلْمُحْصَنَٰتِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَأْتُوا۟ بِأَرْبَعَةِ شُهَدَآءَ فَٱجْلِدُوهُمْ ثَمَٰنِينَ جَلْدَةًۭ وَلَا تَقْبَلُوا۟ لَهُمْ شَهَٰدَةً أَبَدًۭا ۚ وَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْفَٰسِقُونَ ﴿٤﴾
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,
False accusation of zina has a fixed punishment.
Sahih Muslim 2589
Sahih... إن كان فيه ما تقول فقد اغتبته وإن لم يكن فيه فقد بهته ...
"If what you say is in him, you have backbitten him; and if it is not in him, you have slandered him."
Defines slander as a false claim about someone.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Hudud, chapter on the hadd of qadhf. Conditions and punishment for falsely accusing someone of zina.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Hazr wa al-Ibaha, on ghibah. Repentance from wronging a person's honour needs their pardon.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.