6. After consummation, the husband may not reclaim any part of the dowry, even if the separation results from liʿān.

7. Liʿān is restricted to spouses; for anyone else, the ordinary ruling for slander applies.

8. It is disliked to raise hypothetical questions and probe issues that have not actually occurred, especially those hinting at indecency.

9. The scholars explain that the woman alone is addressed with the word “wrath” because, were the sin to occur, its gravity is greater in her case: it would defile the marital bed and risk attributing to the husband a child who is not his. Such a matter entails many harms—illicit maḥram relationships spreading, guardianship over women being wrongly assigned, and property being inherited by those not entitled to it. Therefore, she was singled out with the term “wrath,” which is harsher than “curse.”

10. Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd said: This ḥadith proves that legal rulings are based on what is outwardly apparent.

The Second Ḥadith
On the authority of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both): A man accused his wife of adultery and disowned her child during the lifetime of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ. The Prophet ordered them to perform liʿān, as Allah Most High has prescribed. When they had done so, he ruled that the child belonged to the mother and permanently separated the two who had invoked mutual imprecation.

Overall meaning
In this ḥadith ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar relates that a man charged his wife with adultery, denied paternity of her child, and disowned it. She rejected his allegation and did not confess. They therefore performed liʿān: the husband testified by Allah four times that he was truthful in accusing her, and on the fifth invoked Allah’s curse upon himself. The wife then testified by Allah four times that he was lying, and on the fifth called down Allah’s wrath upon herself. Once the liʿān was complete, the Prophet ﷺ effected an irrevocable separation between them and declared the child to be affiliated with the mother alone, its lineage cut off from the man.

Lessons derived from the ḥadith

1. The ruling of liʿān is firmly established when a man accuses his wife of adultery and she denies it.

2. After liʿān is completed, the child concerning whom the father disclaimed paternity is detached from him and attributed solely to the mother.

3. Liʿān brings about a permanent, irrevocable separation between the spouses; under no circumstances may she ever again be lawful for him.

4. If a husband is certain that the child is not his, he is obliged to repudiate paternity and enter into liʿān if his wife contradicts him, so that the child’s lineage is not falsely attached to him. Otherwise, serious evils may follow: unlawful inheritance, mistaken affiliation of lineage, improper mixing with maḥram relatives, and other grave consequences while the man is in fact unrelated to them.