Section: Conditions for Liʿān

The validity of liʿān rests on three conditions:

1. It must take place between two spouses who are legally accountable.
2. It must be preceded by the husband’s explicit accusation of adultery.
3. The wife must deny the charge and persist in her denial until the procedure is completed.

When both parties finish the mutual imprecation, four legal consequences follow:

1. The fixed penalty (ḥadd) for slander, or any discretionary chastisement (taʿzīr), is waived.
2. The marriage is dissolved, even without a judicial decree.
3. The spouses become permanently forbidden to each other.
4. Any child in question is disavowed, provided the husband states the disavowal explicitly—for example: “I testify by Allah that she has committed adultery, and this child is not mine.”

Section: Paternity That Is Established

If a man’s wife gives birth at least six months after it first became possible for them to cohabit—even if he has been away for more than four years¹, and even if the child appears to be ten years old—the child’s lineage is legally ascribed to him.