A Jurisprudential Examination on the Possibility of Mother's Exemption from Qazf by Looking at the Generalization of Arguments

The crime of Qazf (False accusation of adultery) in Islamic jurisprudence generally includes punishment. The son's Qazf from the father is an exception. According to this exception, the sentence for the child's Qazf from the mother will also be brought up. This dichotomy has been found in Article 259 of the Islamic Penal Code as well as in the famous viewpoints of the Imamiyyah jurists in the absence of enforcing the punishment of Qazf on the father and its execution on the mother. Most of the Imamiyyah jurists believe in enforcing the punishment for the mother and not carrying out the punishment for the father. However, given the strength of jurisprudential arguments for the possibility of incorporating the sentence of the mother into the father's, it is necessary to re-examine this argument. This paper, through a descriptive-analytical method, examines the existing possibilities for father's exemption from Qazf in order to strengthen the possibility of incorporating the mother's sentence into the father's. Based on the most famous viewpoint, the father's exemption has been subjected to the "paternal" relationship, and in some cases, the generality, and context of some arguments and narrative arguments. However, from the aforementioned arguments it seems that the parental relationship can be deduced as the criterion of the sentence. In addition, considering the arguments as unproven and the possibility of the fact that the title "father" has been proven in the narrative arguments, then the mother's sentence can be incorporated in the father's and it can be considered an exception. In addition to the aforementioned arguments, Tanqih al-Manat (clarifying the arguments), generalization of arguments for honoring the parents, the commitment of the legislator to the place of mother, and resorting to the rule of Dar al-Had (the rule of abolishing the punishment) can be a solution for the possibility of the mother's exemption from the punishment of Qazf. Therefore, it is necessary for the legislator to review the article 259 of Islamic penal code and incorporation of the mother into father and paternal grandfather to exempt them from the punishment of Qazf.