Our companions disagreed regarding the case where he performs li'an against his wife while she is pregnant, and denies her pregnancy in his li'an. Al-Khiraqi and a group said: The pregnancy is not disavowed by his denial before delivery, and it is not disavowed until he performs li'an against her after delivery, and the child is disavowed therein. This is the opinion of Abu Hanifa and a group of the people of Kufa; because the pregnancy is not certain; it is possible that it is gas or something else, so its denial becomes conditional upon its existence, and it is not permissible to attach the condition of li'an to a contingency. Malik, al-Shafi'i, and a group of the people of the Hijaz said: The denial of the pregnancy is valid, and it is disavowed from him, arguing with the hadith of Hilal, that he denied her pregnancy and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) denied it from him and attributed it to the mother (2). It is not hidden that it was a pregnancy, and for this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Observe her; if she brings him forth like such-and-such..." Ibn 'Abd al-Barr said: The reports indicating the validity of this opinion are numerous. And he cited them. Furthermore, because pregnancy is presumed based on signs that indicate it, and for this reason, certain rulings have been established for the pregnant woman in which she differs (4) from the non-pregnant woman, such as maintenance, breaking the fast during Ramadan, withholding the execution of a hadd punishment upon her, delaying the retaliation (qisas) for her, and other matters too numerous to mention. Claiming the lineage of a pregnancy (istilhaq) is valid, so it is like a child after its delivery. This opinion is the correct one, because it conforms to the outward sense of the hadiths, and whatever contradicts the hadith is of no concern, whoever may have said it. Abu Bakr said: The child is disavowed by the termination of the marriage bed, and it does not need to be mentioned in the li'an, citing the apparent meaning of the hadiths, where no mention was made in them of denying the pregnancy, nor was there any attempt to deny it. We have already mentioned that. As for the one who says that the child is not disavowed except by denying him after delivery, he requires, for his denial, a repetition of the li'an after delivery. Abu Hanifa and those who agreed with him said: If he performs li'an against her while pregnant, then she delivers the child, he becomes binding upon him, and he is unable to deny him; because li'an cannot take place except between spouses, and this one has been separated by her li'an during the state (5) of her pregnancy. This involves obligating him with a child that is not his, and closing the door to disavowal from children of adultery, whereas Allah, the Most High, has created a path for that, so it is not permissible to close it.