Hadith 5196

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafic from Abdullah ibn Umarthat a man cursed his wife in the time of the Messenger of Allah, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace, and disowned her child. TheMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, separatedthem and gave the child to the woman.Malik said, "Allah theBlessed, the Exalted, said, 'The testimony of men who accuse theirwives but do not have any witnesses except themselves is to testify byAllah four times that he is being truthful, and a fifth time, that thecurse of Allah will be upon him, if he should be a liar. She willavoid punishment if she testifies by Allah four times that he is aliar, and a fifth time, that the wrath of Allah shall be upon her, ifhe should be telling the truth. ' "(Sura 24 ayat 6).Maliksaid, "The sunna with us is that those who curse each other are neverto be remarried. If the man calls himself a liar, (i.e. takes back hisaccusation), he is flogged with the hadd-punishment, and the child isgiven to him, and his wife can never return to him. There is no doubtor dispute about this sunna among us. "Malik said, "If a manseparates from his wife by an irrevocable divorce by which he cannotreturn to her, and then he denies the paternity of the child she iscarrying, whilst she claims that he is the father, and it is possibleby the timing, that he be so, he must curse her, and the child is notrecognised as his."Malik said, "That is what is done amongus, and it is what I have heard from the people of knowledge."Malik said that a man who accused his wife after he had divorcedher trebly while she was pregnant, and he had at first accepted beingthe father but then claimed that he had seen her committing adulterybefore he separated from her, was flogged with the hadd-punishment,and did not curse her.If he denied the paternity of herchild after he had divorced her trebly, and he had not previouslyaccepted it, then he cursed her.Malik said, "This is what Ihave heard."Malik said, "The slave is in the same positionas the free man as regards making accusations and invoking mutualcurses (lian). He acts in the lian as the free man acts although thereis no hadd applied for slandering a female-slave."Maliksaid, "The muslim slave-girl and the christian and jewish free womanalso do lian when a free muslim marries one of them and hasintercourse with her. That is because Allah - may He be blessed andExalted, said in His Book, 'As for those who accuse their wives,' andthey are their wives. This is what is done among us.Maliksaid that a man who did the lian with his wife, and then stopped andcalled himself a liar after one or two oaths and he had not cursedhimself in the fifth one, had to be flogged with the hadd-punishment,but they did not have to be separated.Malik said that if aman divorced his wife and then after three months the woman said, "Iam pregnant," and he denied paternity, then he had to do lian.Malik said that the husband of a female slave who pronounced thelian on her and then bought her, was not to have intercourse with her,even if he owned her. The sunna which had been handed down about acouple who mutually cursed each other in the lian was that they werenever to return to each other.Malik said that when a manpronounced the lian against his wife before he had consummated themarriage, she only had half of the bride price.