Is a husband entitled to deny paternity of a child born from his wife whom he forced into adultery during a period of purity when he did not have intercourse with her?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Mutual Imprecation (Li'an)
Primary text
When a husband forces his wife to commit adultery during a period when he himself did not have intercourse with her, and she subsequently bears a child, the child is considered to be from the adulterer, not the husband. The husband is not entitled to accuse her of adultery (Qadhf) because the act itself was not adultery on her part. According to the predominant view of the Ashab al-Ra'y (Hanafis), the husband cannot deny the paternity (Nafy) of the child because denial is only established through mutual imprecation (Li'an), which requires an accusation (Qadhf). Furthermore, Li'an cannot be properly enacted because it requires the wife's participation, and she cannot falsely deny the husband's coercion, rendering the Li'an invalid in this specific circumstance.
Supporting text
Some of our colleagues hold two different narrations regarding this. One view is that the husband may deny paternity through Li'an because he needs to deny the child, just as if she had committed adultery willingly. This aligns with the position of Al-Shafi'i, who permits the denial of paternity based solely on the husband's Li'an. However, those who do not accept the validity of the husband's sole Li'an do not permit denial through this method in this scenario.