The accusation is of the same nature as the origin of the accusation, and so is its timing. If a foreign woman says: "You accused me," and he says: "You were my wife at that time," and she denies the marital status, then her statement is accepted, because the default principle is the absence of that status.

Section: If he accuses a foreign woman, then marries her, he must undergo the hadd punishment and does not perform li'an, for it (56) became mandatory while she was a foreign woman, so he does not possess the right of li'an because of it, just as if he had not married her. If he accuses her after marrying her of adultery, attributing it to a time before the marriage, he is subjected to the hadd punishment and does not perform li'an, regardless of whether there is a child or not. This (57) is the view of Malik and Abu Thawr. This is also reported from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib and al-Sha'bi. Al-Hasan, Zurarah ibn Awfa, and the people of ra'y said: He has the right to perform li'an because he has accused his wife, thus entering (58) into the generality of the saying of the Almighty: "And those who accuse their wives." Also, because he accused his wife, it is similar to the case where he accused her without attributing it to a time before the marriage. Al-Sharif Abu Ja'far narrated another narration from Ahmad to that effect. Al-Shafi'i said: If there is no child, he does not perform li'an, but if there is a child between them, there are two opinions regarding it. Our argument is that he accused her with an accusation attributed to the state of separation, which is similar to if he had accused her while she was irrevocably divorced, and it differs from accusing one's wife, for in that case, he needs it because she angered him and betrayed him; and if there is a child between them, he needs to negate it. Here, if he marries her while knowing of her adultery, he is the negligent one for entering into a marriage with a woman pregnant from adultery, so no path is legislated for him to negate it.

Section: If he says to his wife: "You are divorced three times, O adulteress." Muhanna reported: I asked Ahmad about a man who said to his wife: "You are divorced, O adulteress," three times. He said: "He performs li'an." I said: "But they say he is subjected to the hadd punishment, and only one divorce becomes binding upon her (59)." He said: "What they say is wretched. He performs li'an because he accused her before the legal ruling of their separation, so it resembles the accusation of a revocably divorced woman." As for the first case, if there is a child between them, he performs li'an to negate it; otherwise, he is subjected to the hadd punishment and does not perform li'an, because the attribution of the accusation is specifically to the state of...