If he accuses his wife who is insane of adultery, attributing it to the time of her lucidity, or if he accuses her while she is sane, and then she becomes insane, she has no right to demand the hadd punishment, nor does her guardian have this right before she recovers; because the path to this is seeking retribution (tashaffi), and the guardian cannot deputize for her in this, like in the case of qisas (retaliation). If she recovers, she has the right to demand the hadd, and the husband has the right to drop it by Li'an. If he wishes to perform Li'an with her while she is in a state of madness, and there is no child to negate, he cannot do so; due to the lack of need for it, because no hadd punishment has been directed against him that he needs to drop, nor is there a lineage he needs to negate. If there is a child he wishes to negate, the requirement of the school (madhhab) is that he cannot perform Li'an, and the child is attributed to him; because the child is only negated through Li'an from both spouses, and Li'an cannot be validly performed by her. Ahmad explicitly stated, regarding a dumb (mute) woman, that her husband cannot perform Li'an; and this case is even more appropriate. Al-Khiraqi said regarding the sane woman: No action is taken against him until his wife demands it. This is the opinion of the proponents of Ra'y; because she is one of the two spouses, so Li'an is not legislated with her madness, like the husband, and because the husband's Li'an alone does not result in the negation of the child, so there is no benefit in its legislation. Al-Qadi said: He has the right to perform Li'an to negate the child; because he is in need of negating it, so a path is legislated for him to negate it. Al-Shafi'i said: He has the right to perform Li'an. The apparent stance of his school is that he has the right to perform Li'an with her even without a child, due to his inclusion in the generality of the Almighty's statement: {And those who accuse their wives}. And because he is a legally competent husband, accusing his wife, who is of the age where she can bear children, so he had the right to perform Li'an with her, just as if she were sane.

Section: As for the dumb man and the dumb woman, if they are not known for communication through signs and writing, they are like the two insane persons in what we have mentioned; because Li'an cannot be imagined from them, and the accusation is not known from the husband, nor is the demand known from the wife. If they are known for communication through signs and writing, Ahmad said: If the woman is dumb, Li'an cannot be performed with her; because her demand is not known. Ibn al-Mundhir narrated this from Ahmad, Abu Ubayd, Ishaq, and the proponents of Ra'y. This is how it ought to be regarding the dumb man as well; this is because Li'an is a pronouncement (lafz) that requires testimony, so it cannot be valid from the dumb man, like formal testimony, and because...