a slice of the Fire that I am allotting to him.”
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His statement to the two who invoked liʿān, “Your reckoning rests with Allah,” means that although the judicial ruling is rendered on the basis of outward indications, the one who is lying among you will not be spared reproach and punishment on the Day of Resurrection. This is like his ﷺ saying: “Whoever I award something from his brother’s right, I am in fact cutting out for him a piece of the Fire.”
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His words, “You have no claim against her,” indicate that once the liʿān is completed with all its conditions, a permanent separation is effected between the spouses—one that is not cancelled even if she later marries another man. After the liʿān is finalized, the husband no longer has any authority over the wife who underwent it and possesses no right over her whatsoever.
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The husband may not recover any part of the dowry. If he has spoken the truth, the dowry became firmly hers through consummation and the lawful intimacy he enjoyed with her; and if he has lied, he is even less entitled to it because of the slander and false accusation he has levelled against her.
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The Prophet ﷺ did not know the unseen; he judged only according to what he heard from the litigants. This proves that knowledge of the unseen belongs solely to Allah and affords latitude to the judges of his community: their duty is to exert their utmost in hearing the case and seeking the truth. If they reach the correct verdict they receive two rewards, and if they err they still receive one reward, while the error is excused.