What is the ruling if a man performs Li'an against his wife to negate a child, and subsequently retracts his denial (confesses)?

Primary text

If a man performs Li'an against his wife and negates her child, and then retracts his denial (confesses), the child's lineage is established to him without any scholarly disagreement if the child is alive. If the child is deceased, the lineage is also established according to the opinion of the majority of scholars. This applies whether the man had other children or not, and whether the deceased left wealth or not. This is because lineage is a right belonging to the child, and if the father affirms it, it becomes obligatory upon him. This affirmation is valid whether it preceded his denial or not, because the cause for negating the lineage (his denial) has been removed by his retraction, thus the lineage must be established by virtue of the marriage contract which mandates lineage.