Section: If one of the spouses is not legally competent (mukallaf), there is no Li'an between them, because it is a statement by which separation is achieved, and it is not valid from one who is not legally competent, like divorce, or it is an oath, and it is not valid from one who is not legally competent, like all other oaths (13). The person who is not legally competent must be either the husband, the wife, or both. If it is the husband, there are two situations: first, that he is a child; second, that he is an adult lacking mental capacity. If he is a child, the accusation (qadhf) is not valid from him, nor is the hadd punishment incumbent upon him for it, because the Pen is lifted from him, and his word is not considered. If his wife produces a child, we look: if it is for less than ten years, the child is not attributed to him and is negated from him, because knowledge encompasses that it is not from him, for Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has not established the custom that one would be born to him at less than that age, so it is negated from him, just as if the woman brought forth a child for less than six months since he married her. If he is ten years old (15) or older, Abu Bakr said: He is not attributed to him until after puberty as well, because a child is not created except from the semen of the man and the woman, and if he had ejaculated, he would have reached puberty. Ibn Hamid said: He is attributed to him. The judge (al-Qadi) said: This is the apparent implication of Ahmad's words. This is also the school of al-Shafi'i, because the child is attributed [to the father] based on possibility, even if it contradicts the outward appearance. For this reason, if she produces a child at six months from the time of the contract, it is attributed to the husband, even if it contradicts the outward appearance. Likewise, it is attributed to him if she produces it at four years, despite its rarity. He does not have the right to negate it immediately, until his puberty is verified by one of the causes of puberty, at which point he has the right to negate the child or acknowledge his paternity (16). If it is said: 'If you attribute the child to him, you have ruled on his puberty, so why did you not hear his negation and his Li'an?' We say: Attributing the child is sufficiently justified by possibility, while puberty is not established except through an apparent cause. Furthermore, attributing the child to him is a right due upon him, while Li'an is a right belonging to him, so it is not established in the presence of doubt. If it is said: 'If he is not an adult, the child is negated from him, and if he is an adult, it is negated from him by Li'an (17).' We say: However, it is not permissible for him to initiate the oath while there is doubt about its validity, so it was dropped due to doubt about it.