Accusations of Spousal Infidelity

If a husband accuses his wife of committing adultery without bringing forth four witnesses who will affirm that the adultery occurred, he falls under the punishment for such an act. However, he can redeem himself by providing other proof of the adultery or by performing li‘ān.

Al-Li‘ān or al-Mulā‘ana

If the husband cannot produce four witnesses, he may instead swear by Allah four times, testifying that he is truthful and his accusation of his wife’s adultery is correct. He does so to protect himself from the punishment of false accusation (al-qathaf). Then, he swears a fifth time by saying, “May the curse of Allah be upon me if I am one of the liars”.

If the wife wishes to protect herself from the punishment of adultery but cannot produce four witnesses in her defense, she too can swear four times in place of the witnesses’ testimony: “I testify by Allah that he [husband] is one of the liars accusing me of adultery.” Then she adds a fifth oath in which she swears, “May the wrath of Allah be upon me if he is truthful in accusing me of adultery.” They are then separated and will never be together again or inherit each other’s possessions. (See Q 24.6-9).

The four major Sunni imams (Abū Hanīfa, Anas Ibn Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī, and Ibn Hanbal) disagree about the details of the oaths of li‘ān, or al-mulā‘ana between the couples if one of them is mute, if one of them is Muslim while the other is from another religion, the circumstance of the commission of adultery, the social position of the two (whether the wife is a slave or free woman) or the age of the woman (if the wife is younger or older than child-bearing years). However, al-Qurţubī prefers that “there would be no li‘ān between a man and his female slave…and that li‘ān is only applicable if the couple are both free and Muslim, and no one should perform li‘ān, save the one whose testimony is permissible”.