سورة النور

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Sama'ah said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "How can it be known that he has repented?" He said: "He should confess to his lie before the people until the lash is carried out upon him and he seeks forgiveness from his Lord; and if he does so, his repentance has become manifest."

Fiqh al-Rida (peace be upon him): The testimony of one who has slandered another is not accepted unless he repents from that slander; and his repentance is that he stands in the very place in which he said what he said and admits to his own lie.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The one who has accused another [of adultery], if he repents and is of upright character ('adil), his testimony is accepted. Allah the Mighty and Majestic has said: "Indeed Allah loves those who repent and He loves those who purify themselves" (al-Baqarah/222). There is no reason to reject the testimony of one whom Allah loves and who is of upright character. And Allah the Mighty and Majestic, in the passage where He speaks of rejecting the testimony of the one who accuses another [of adultery], has excepted the one who repents, saying: وَ لا تَقْبَلُوا لَهُمْ شَهادَةً أَبَداً [And do not accept from them any testimony ever]; then He mentioned an exception, saying: إِلَّا الَّذِینَ تابُوا [Except those who repent].

Ibn Abbas: If one who has accused another of adultery repents [from this act], his testimony is accepted, whether he received the [eighty] lashes or not.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Qasim ibn Sulayman said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about a man who: "accuses another of adultery and receives the [eighty] lashes, then repents and nothing but good is seen from him — is his testimony accepted?" The Imam said: "Yes! [Then he asked me]: What do the jurists among you say?" I said: "They say: his repentance is accepted between him and Allah, but his testimony will never be accepted!" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "They have spoken an evil word. My father used to say: When he repents and nothing but good is seen from him, his testimony is accepted."