after the ʿAsr prayer on Friday; by place—the most honoured locality. In Mecca it is between the Black Stone and the Station of Abraham; in Medina, at the pulpit; in Jerusalem, at the Rock; and in other towns, beside the main mosque’s pulpit. A menstruating woman stands at the mosque door, while a dhimmi takes the intensified oath in a synagogue or church, and, according to the sounder view, a Magian in his fire-temple, though not a pagan in an idol-house. The gathering required for such an oath is a minimum of four persons.

These forms of intensification are sunnah, not obligatory, according to the school. It is likewise recommended that the judge admonish both spouses, place special emphasis on the fifth testimony, and have them perform the liʿān standing.

A further condition is that the husband be someone whose divorce would take legal effect. Thus, if he apostatises after consummation, then accuses her, and returns to Islam during her ʿidda, he may invoke liʿān. Should he perform liʿān while apostate and then embrace Islam during the same ʿidda, the procedure remains valid; but if he persists in apostasy, the marriage is already dissolved.

His liʿān brings about: separation; a perpetual bar to remarriage—even if he later retracts; removal of the hadd for slander from him; liability to the hadd for adultery upon her; and the disavowal of any child he has negated through liʿān.

He is required to deny paternity only when denial is possible. If it is impossible—because she delivered six months after the contract, or he divorced her in the very sitting in which the contract was made, or the marriage was concluded while he was in the East and she in the West—the child is not ascribed to him. He may still disclaim the child even after its death.

According to the newer opinion the disclaimer must be immediate, although a valid excuse permits delay. He may disclaim a pregnancy and then wait for the birth. A man who postpones and says, “I did not know she had delivered,” is believed on oath if he was absent, and likewise if he was present but ignorance remains plausible.

If someone says to him, “May you rejoice in your child,” or “May Allah make him a righteous child for you,” and he answers, “Āmīn” or “Yes,” he can no longer deny paternity; but if he merely says, “May Allah reward you,” or “Blessings on you,” he still may. He may resort to liʿān even when he could produce evidence of her adultery, and she may, by doing so, avert the hadd for adultery.

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He may perform liʿān to disclaim a child even though she has waived the hadd and the marriage tie has been severed; to avert the hadd for slander even when the marriage has ended and no child is involved; and for the purpose of his own discretionary punishment—but not for corrective chastisement for lying, such as accusing a girl who is not susceptible to intercourse. Even if she pardons the hadd or