Ibn ‘Umar said that the Prophet made a man and his wife invoke curses when the man disowned her child, and separated them and attributed the child to the woman. In his tradition transmitted by both of them it says that God's Messenger exhorted and admonished the man and informed him that punishment in this world is easier than that in the next. He then summoned the woman and exhorted and admonished her and told her that punishment in this world is easier than that in the next.
Narrated Sahl b. Sa'd as-Sa‘idi told that ‘Uwaimir al-'Ajlani asked God’s Messenger:
“Tell me about a man who finds a man along with his wife. Should he kill him and then be killed by you1, or how should he act?’’ He replied, “A revelation has been sent down about you and your wife2, so go away and bring her.” Sahl said that they cursed one another in the mosque and that he was along with the people who were with God’s Messenger. Then when they finished ‘Uwaimir said, “I shall have lied against her, Messenger of God, if I keep her,” and pronounced her divorce three times. God’s Messenger then said to the people, “Look, and if she bears a child which is black, and has very black eyes, large buttocks and fat legs, I cannot but imagine that ‘Uwaimir has spoken the truth about her; but if she bears a reddish child like the lizard with red spots (wahara), I cannot but imagine that ‘Uwaimir has lied against her.” She gave birth to a child like that described by God’s Messenger in declaring that ‘Uwaimir had spoken the truth, and afterwards its lineage was traced to its mother.
(Bukhari and Muslim.)
1. Some texts read as translated above; others use the third person, with reference to the family of the man and their revenge for killing him.
2. Al-Qur'an 24:6.
He reported the Prophet as saying to two who were invoking curses regarding one another, “Your reckoning is in God’s hands, for one of you is lying.” He then told the man that he could not remarry her, whereupon he said, “Messenger of God, what about my property?”* He replied, “There is no property for you. If you have spoken the truth, it is the price of your having had the right to intercourse with her; and if you have lied against her, it is more remote still from you than she is.”
* Referring to the dower be had paid.
Mu'awiya b. al-Hakam told that he went to God’s Messenger and said, “Messenger of God, I have a slave girl who was herding sheep of mine. I went to her, having missed a sheep from the flock, and asked her about it, and she told me it had been eaten by a wolf. I was annoyed with her, and being human, I struck her on the face. As it is my duty to set free a slave, should I set her free?” God’s Messenger asked her where God was and she replied that he was in heaven. He asked her who he was and she replied that he was God's Messenger. He then told him to set her free.
Malik transmitted it.
In Muslim’s version he said, “I had a slave girl who was herding sheep of mine in the direction of Uhud and al-Jawwaniya. One day I looked and saw that a wolf had gone off with one of our sheep. Now I am a man who becomes annoyed just as others do, but I gave her a blow and then went to God’s Messenger. He treated my offence as serious, and so I asked him whether I should set her free. He told me to bring her and when I did so he asked her where God was and she replied that He was in heaven. He asked her who he was and she replied that he was God’s Messenger. He then told me to set her free, for she was a believer.”*
*This chapter has only one section.
