A Research on the Nature of Mutual Cursing

Mutual cursing (li‘ān) is used in special wording and condition in the presence of a judge in case of man’s claim of the woman’s adultery or in case of rejecting paternity of the child by the husband; in that case the punishment of false accusation of unchastity (qadhf) and adultery (zinā) are removed respectively from the man and the woman; and the wife and the husband become unlawful (haram) to one another and would not inherit from each other for ever, etc. Jurists are divided upon the nature of li‘ān. Some have considered it to be attestation, some oath, and some a combination of oath and attestation, and each have come up with evidences for their claim.
After examining the evidences of each of the three groups given the differences of oath and attestation with li‘ān and given the specific outcomes resulting from li‘ān, this article concludes that li‘ān is none of the above-mentioned instances; rather, the Exalted God, in case of the husband’s claim as to his wife’s adultery, has devised a method under the rubric of li‘ān for eliminating punishment of qadhf from him, which gives rise to special rulings and results. Similarly, rejection of paternity has its special rulings and results. In one respect, li‘ān is an independent event and it is not necessary to be one of oath or attestation or a combination of both so as to say it should have their rulings and results.