Home Hadith Hadith 6602
Ibn `Abbas mentioned the couple who had taken the oath of Lian. `Abdullah bin Shaddad said (to
him), "Was this woman about whom Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, 'If I were ever to stone to death any woman
without witnesses. (I would have stoned that woman to death)?' Ibn `Abbas replied," No, that lady
exposed herself (by her suspicious behavior).
Sahih al-Bukhari Book 86, Hadith 77
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I witnessed the case of Lian (the case of a man who charged his wife for committing illegal sexual
intercourse when I was fifteen years old. The Prophet (ﷺ) ordered that they be divorced, and the husband
said, "If I kept her, I would be a liar." I remember that Az-Zubair also said, "(It was said) that if that
woman brought forth the child with such-and-such description, her husband would prove truthful, but
if she brought it with such-and-such description looking like a Wahra (a red insect), he would prove
untruthful." I heard Az-Zubair also saying, "Finally she gave birth to a child of description which her
husband disliked .
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Lian was mentioned in the presence of the Prophet, `Asim bin Adi said a statement about it, and when
he left, a man from his tribe came to him complaining that he had seen a man with his wife. `Asim
said, "I have been put to trial only because of my statement." So he took the man to the Prophet (ﷺ) and
the man told him about the incident. The man (husband) was of yellow complexion, thin, and of lank
hair, while the man whom he had accused of having been with his wife, was reddish brown with fat
thick legs and fat body. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "O Allah! Reveal the truth." Later on the lady delivered a
child resembling the man whom the husband had accused of having been with her. So the Prophet (ﷺ)
made them take the oath of Lian. A man said to Ibn `Abbas in the gathering, "Was that the same lady
about whom the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "If I were to stone any lady (for committing illegal sexual intercourse)
to death without witnesses, I would have stoned that lade to death?" Ibn `Abbas said, "No, that was
another lady who used to behave in such a suspicious way among the Muslims that one might accuse
her of committing illegal sexual intercourse."