For the one that commits adultery, committing sexual acts outside the contract of marriage, the conditions for establishing such an act in front the court, and thereby requiring punishment, are very strict. There must be four male witnesses that witnessed the actual act itself, and they all have to come to court at the same time. If someone comes and makes this claim without having these four witnesses, then they will actually be punished for slandering the people that were accused. It’s severe because if someone is making an accusation like this, they have to make sure they have all of their evidences, otherwise the accuser themselves get punished, and this is done publicly. The other possibility is if someone confesses. Although this seems implausible, some scholars researched the court rulings that were carried out in the Ottoman Empire. They were shocked that there were people who committed adultery and then went to the court and confessed it.
