Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • RSS
  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2026 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Li’an

__socrates

  • Page
  • History
Wikis > Dictionary of Islam > Li’an
LI’AN لعان
Lit. “Mutual cursing.” A form of divorce which takes under the following circumstances. “If a man accuses his wife of adultery, and does not prove it by four witnesses, he must swear before ‘God that he is the teller of truth four times and then add: If I am a liar, may God curse me.’ The wife then says four times, ‘I swear before God that my husband lies’; and then adds: ‘May God’s anger be upon me if this man be a teller of truths’ After this a divorce takes place ipso facto.” (see Suratu- ‘n-Nur, xxiv. 6. Mishkat, book xiii. ch. xv.)
In the case of Li’an, as in the other terms of divorce, the woman can claim her dower.
Li’an is not allowed in four cases, so, a Christian woman married to a Muslim, a Jewess married to a Muslim, a free woman married to a slave, and a slave girl married to a free man.
The children of a woman divorced by Li’an are illegitimate.

Based on Hughes, Dictionary of Islam

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • How Minnesotans became Palestinians: Top 5 Ways they are Occupied
  • A Blood Bath Took Place in Iran
  • Ta-Nehisi Coates: If Democrats can't draw the Line at Genocide, they can't Draw the Line at Democracy
  • Iran's Protests are not just about Economics, they're about an Ideological Crisis
  • Is the End of the UN Relief & Works Agency for Palestinians the End of the Int'l Order?

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2026 All Rights Reserved