Draft:Liʿān
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Liʿān or Mulāʿana (mutual cursing) means mutual cursing between a husband and wife to dismiss accusations related to fornication (zinā) or denying a child. This ruling is implemented when a man claims to have seen his wife committing fornication or that her child is from another man, without having any witnesses. In this case, both parties prove their claim by taking an oath and cursing each other.
Based on verses 6 to 9 of Sura al-Nur, the husband, to prove his claim, must testify four times that he is telling the truth, and in the fifth testimony, he brings the curse of God upon himself if he is telling a lie. The wife also defends herself with similar testimonies. Jurisprudentially, this ruling causes the invalidation of the marriage contract, eternal prohibition between the couple, the dropping of the ḥadd (punishment) for qadhf (false accusation) and zinā, the separation of the child from the father, and the inability to inherit from each other.
Jurists have determined conditions for the implementation of liʿān; including that the man must be an adult, sane, and possess free will, confirm his claim with the fourfold testimony, and liʿān must take place before a religious judge (ḥākim al-sharʿ). Some jurists like Al-Shaykh al-Tusi believe liʿān is only applicable in permanent marriage, while others like Al-Sayyid al-Murtada consider this ruling applicable in temporary marriage as well.
Definition and Status
Liʿān or mulāʿana in Islamic jurisprudence means mutual cursing between a husband and wife, which is done with the aim of averting a religious punishment or denying a born child.[1] From the perspective of Shi'a jurists, it is applied where a man claims to have seen his wife committing zinā and does not have a witness, or claims that the child his wife gave birth to is from another man. In this hypothesis, each of the husband and wife curses the other with specific words.[2] Two possibilities have been mentioned for the word liʿān in terms of lexicology; one is that it is from the infinitives of the mufāʿala paradigm, or it is the plural of laʿn (curse) and means to expel or distance.[3]
Nasir Makarim Shirazi, one of the Shi'a marja's, has mentioned five points regarding the importance, status, and wisdom of establishing the ruling of liʿān:
- The man is not forced to remain silent and not go to the religious judge if he sees wrongdoing regarding his wife.
- The woman is not exposed to the punishment of the ḥadd for zinā of a married woman (muḥṣana) merely upon accusation, and it gives her the right to defend herself.
- The husband is not forced to go looking for four witnesses if he encounters such a scene and reveal this painful secret.
- This ruling separates a man and woman who are no longer able to continue their joint marital life, and even does not allow them to marry each other in the future, because if this attribution is true, they are psychologically unable to continue their marital life, and if it is a lie, the woman's emotions have been so wounded that it makes returning to life together difficult.
- It also clarifies the status of the child.[4]
In the Iranian Civil Code, according to articles 882, 883, and 1052, liʿān, following Islamic rulings, causes the separation of husband and wife, the negation of inheritance from the father for the denied child, and eternal prohibition between the couple.[5]
Evidence
Jurists have considered verses 6 to 9 of Sura al-Nur as the most important evidence for the discussion of liʿān.[6] These verses were revealed in response to the question of Sa'd b. 'Ubada, which was about people who have seen their wives committing zinā but do not have witnesses. According to these verses, the man must testify four times that he is telling the truth, and in the fifth testimony, say that the curse of God be upon him if he is lying. The woman also, to avert the accusation, testifies four times that the man is a liar, and in the fifth testimony says: the wrath of God be upon her if the man is telling the truth. This process is presented as a method of averting the religious ḥadd in these types of accusations.[7]
Many narrations on the subject of liʿān have been reported in narrative books.[8] Al-Kulayni, one of the Shi'a hadith scholars, has dedicated a chapter in the book al-Kafi to the narrations of liʿān.[9]
Jurisprudential Effects
The implementation of liʿān in the presence of the religious judge has jurisprudential effects that the man and woman must abide by:
- Liʿān, like divorce, causes the invalidation of the marriage contract.[10] And it is obligatory for the woman to observe the ʿidda of divorce.[11] And the man and woman become eternally prohibited to each other.[12]
- Liʿān for the man causes the dropping of the ḥadd of qadhf and for the woman causes the dropping of the ḥadd of zinā; if the woman does not perform liʿān, she receives the ḥadd of zinā because the man's liʿān serves as a clear proof (bayyina).[13]
- If liʿān is for denying a child, it causes the separation of the child from the father, and they do not inherit from each other.[14] And also paternal relatives, like the grandfather and grandmother, do not inherit.[15] If the man later retracts his liʿān, the child inherits from him, but the father never inherits from this child.[16]
Method of Implementation
Jurists have said in the method of implementing liʿān that the judge tells the man: take God as a witness four times that he is truthful in what he attributes to his wife,Template:Note after that the judge advises him that if he is telling a lie, he should retract his words. Now, if the man retracts his statement, he receives eighty lashes as the ḥadd for qadhf, and if he does not retract, for the fifth time you say: the curse of God be upon me if I am of the liars.Template:Note Then the judge tells the woman: what do you say about this man's statement? If she confirms it, she is stoned until she dies.[17]
But if the wife denies her husband's statement, the judge tells her: take God as a witness up to four times that your husband is one of the liars, then the judge admonishes her. At this stage, if the woman confirms her husband's statement, they stone her, but if she still continues to deny her husband's statement; the judge tells her: say the wrath of God be upon me, if my husband is of the truthful. After this, the rulings of liʿān are applied to the couple.[18]
Conditions
Shi'a jurists have mentioned conditions for the implementation of liʿān, some of which are as follows:
- The husband must be sane, adult, and possess free will.[19]
- The man must claim that he saw his wife with his own eyes during this act but has no witness.[20]
- A group like Al-Shaykh al-Tusi have stipulated that the woman should not be Jewish or Christian or a dhimmī or a slave girl,[21] in contrast, a group like Al-Shaykh al-Mufid have not accepted this condition.[22]
- Liʿān before penetration is not valid.[23]
- Liʿān must be in the presence of the ruler or the appointee of the ruler, and its initiation must be by his order.[24]
- It is necessary that liʿān be recited with Arabic words, but if the parties are unable to do so, they can recite it in their own language.[25]
- Some jurists like Al-Shaykh al-Tusi and Abu l-Salah al-Halabi have said liʿān is specific to permanent marriage, in contrast, a group like Al-Sayyid al-Murtada and Al-Shaykh al-Mufid have said it also applies in temporary marriage.[26]
Notes
- ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, al-Rawḍat al-bahiyya, 1410 AH, vol. 6, p. 181.
- ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, 1392 Sh, p. 454.
- ↑ Rūḥānī, Fiqh al-Ṣādiq (a), 1412 AH, vol. 23, p. 201.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1374 Sh, vol. 14, pp. 382 & 383.
- ↑ Kitāb-i Qānūn-i madanī, vol. 1, p. 77.
- ↑ Rūḥānī, Fiqh al-Ṣādiq (a), 1412 AH, vol. 23, p. 201.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1374 Sh, vol. 14, p. 380.
- ↑ Rūḥānī, Fiqh al-Ṣādiq (a), 1412 AH, vol. 23, p. 201.
- ↑ See Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1407 AH, vol. 6, p. 164.
- ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, 1419 AH, p. 455.
- ↑ Ṣadr, Mā warāʾ al-fiqh, 1420 AH, vol. 8, p. 515.
- ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, 1419 AH, p. 455.
- ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, 1419 AH, p. 455.
- ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, 1419 AH, p. 455.
- ↑ Sabzawārī, Muhadhdhab al-aḥkām, 1413 AH, vol. 26, p. 264.
- ↑ Ṣadr, Mā warāʾ al-fiqh, 1420 AH, vol. 8, p. 515.
- ↑ Shaykh al-Ṭūsī, al-Nihāya, 1400 AH, pp. 520 & 521.
- ↑ Shaykh al-Ṭūsī, al-Nihāya, 1400 AH, pp. 520 & 521.
- ↑ Sabzawārī, Muhadhdhab al-aḥkām, 1413 AH, vol. 26, p. 252.
- ↑ ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, Taḥrīr al-aḥkām, 1420 AH, vol. 2, p. 64.
- ↑ Shaykh al-Ṭūsī, al-Nihāya, 1400 AH, p. 523.
- ↑ Shaykh al-Mufīd, al-Muqniʿa, 1413 AH, p. 542.
- ↑ Shaykh al-Ṭūsī, al-Nihāya, 1400 AH, p. 522.
- ↑ Sabzawārī, Muhadhdhab al-aḥkām, 1413 AH, vol. 26, pp. 257 & 258.
- ↑ Sabzawārī, Muhadhdhab al-aḥkām, 1413 AH, vol. 26, p. 258.
- ↑ Fāḍil al-Ābī, Kashf al-rumūz, 1417 AH, vol. 2, p. 156.
References
- Ḥusaynī Rūḥānī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ṣādiq, Fiqh al-Ṣādiq (a), Qom, Dār al-Kitāb - Madrasa-yi Imām Ṣādiq (a), 1412 AH.
- Sabzawārī, Sayyid ʿAbd al-Aʿlā, Muhadhdhab al-aḥkām fī bayān al-ḥalāl wa l-ḥarām, Qom, Muʾassasat al-Manār, 1413 AH.
- Shahīd al-Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn b. ʿAlī, al-Rawḍat al-bahiyya fī sharḥ al-Lumʿat al-Dimashqiyya, verified by: Sayyid Muḥammad Kalāntar, Qom, Dāwarī, 1410 AH.
- Shaykh al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan, al-Mabsūṭ fī fiqh al-Imāmiyya, Tehran, al-Maktabat al-Murtaḍawiyya li-Iḥyāʾ al-Āthār al-Jaʿfariyya, 1387 AH.
- Shaykh al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan, al-Nihāya fī mujarrad al-fiqh wa l-fatāwā, Beirut, Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 1400 AH.
- Shaykh al-Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad, al-Muqniʿa, Qom, World Congress of the Millennium of Shaykh Mufid, first edition, 1413 AH.
- Ṣadr, Sayyid Muḥammad, Mā warāʾ al-fiqh, Beirut, Dār al-Aḍwāʾ li-l-Ṭibāʿa wa l-Nashr wa l-Tawzīʿ, 1420 AH.
- ʿAbd al-Munʿim, Maḥmūd ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Muʿjam al-muṣṭalaḥāt wa l-alfāẓ al-fiqhiyya, Cairo, Dār al-Faḍīla, 1419 AH.
- ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, Ḥasan b. Yūsuf, Mukhtalaf al-Shīʿa, Qom, Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī al-Tābiʿa li-Jamāʿat al-Mudarrisīn, second edition, 1413 AH.
- ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, Ḥasan b. Yūsuf, Taḥrīr al-aḥkām al-sharʿiyya ʿalā madhhab al-Imāmiyya, verified by: Jaʿfar Subḥānī Tabrīzī, Qom, Muʾassasat al-Imām al-Ṣādiq (a), 1420 AH.
- Fāḍil al-Ābī, Ḥasan b. Abī Ṭālib Yūsufī, Kashf al-rumūz fī sharḥ Mukhtaṣar al-nāfiʿ, Qom, Islamic Publication Office affiliated with the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, third edition, 1417 AH.
- Qānūn-i madanī, volume one approved on Urdibihisht 18, 1307 Sh, volume two approved on Bahman 28 and Isfand 21 and Farvardin 17 and 19 and 20, 1313 Sh.
- Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb, al-Kāfī, verified by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī and Muḥammad Ākhūndī, Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, fourth edition, 1407 AH.
- Mishkīnī Ardabīlī, ʿAlī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, Qom, Dar al-Hadith, 1392 Sh.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir, Tafsīr-i nimūna, Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1374 Sh.