by li'an. This is the school of al-Shafi'i, for by acknowledging [the child], he has confessed to lying in his accusation; thus, his denial is not heard thereafter. The perspective of the first [view] is that it does not follow from the child being his that adultery by her is negated, just as it does not follow from the occurrence of adultery by her that the child is his. For this reason, if she confessed to adultery or evidence for it was established, the child would not be negated from him; thus, there is no contradiction between his li'an and his acknowledgement (20) of the child. If he acknowledges one (21) of the twins and remains silent about the other, it [the other] is attached to him; for if he had denied it, it would have been attached to him anyway (22), so if he remains silent about it, it is even more appropriate. Furthermore, whenever his wife brings forth a child, it is attached to him unless he negates it from himself (23) through li'an (24). If he denies one of them and remains silent about the other, both are attached to him. If it is said: Why did you not deny the one about whom he was silent, as he denied its brother, and they are one pregnancy? We say: The attachment of lineage is based on prevalence, and it is established by the mere possibility [of paternity], even if the act of intercourse is not proven. It is not negated [by the possibility of denial] (25), so they are distinct. If she brings forth a child and he denies it, and he performs li'an to negate it, then she gives birth to another within less than six months, the second is not negated by the first li'an; because the li'an applied to the first alone, and he requires a second li'an to negate the second. It is possible [to say] that it is negated by his denial without the need for a second li'an, because they are one pregnancy, and he has already performed li'an to negate it once, so he does not need a second li'an. This was mentioned by the Qadi. If he acknowledges the second, it and the first are attached to him, for the reason we mentioned. If he remains silent about denying it, they are both also attached to him. As for if he denies the child through li'an, then she gives birth to another child after six months, this is from a different pregnancy, for it is not permissible for there to be the duration of a pregnancy between two children from the same pregnancy, and even if it were possible, this would not be a full pregnancy duration. If he denies this child through li'an, it is negated, and it is not negated without li'an, because it is a separate pregnancy. If he acknowledges it, or refrains from denying it, it is attached to him, even if she had been separated [from him] by the li'an, because it is possible that he had intercourse with her after the delivery