Chapter: The Procedure for Liʿān

The procedure for liʿān is that the judge says to the accusing husband: “Say: I testify by Allah that I saw her committing adultery, and I saw the adulterer’s private part inside her private part just as a kohl-stick enters the kohl-case, and I have not had intercourse with her since I witnessed that.” If he wishes, he may instead say: “She has indeed committed adultery, and I have not lain with her since her act of adultery.” He repeats whichever of the two formulas he chooses four times. If he refuses to utter these oaths—or any part of them—the ḥadd is carried out on him.

If he is also denying her pregnancy, he adds: “I testify by Allah that I verified she was not pregnant, I have not had intercourse with her thereafter, and this pregnancy is not mine,” pointing to it as he speaks. He swears to that four times, and in each oath he also says: “and I am surely among the truthful in what I say about her.” For the fifth oath the judge instructs him: “Say: may Allah’s curse be upon me if I am lying,” or, if he prefers, “if I am lying about what I have asserted concerning her.” Once he has completed this, the ḥadd is lifted from him and paternity of the child is severed. The marital separation, however, is not effected until both spouses have completed their mutual liʿān in full.

When the husband has finished his oaths, the wife then rises and swears by Allah four times, saying: “I testify by Allah that you are lying,” or: “that he is surely lying in the accusation he has levelled against me and in what he has attributed to me.” If she is pregnant, she adds: “and this pregnancy is from him.”