LI’AN: A SUBSTITUTION FOR THE HONOR KILLINGS AND A COUNTERWEIGHT FOR THE PRESUMPTION OF PATERNITY
Abstract
Honor killings are a dark side of the family protection system especially in the Middle East. Most of the honor killings are done by the husbands who are suspicious to their wives.
But the Shari’a to preclude such honor killings has designed the li’an. Despite its importance, there is no background of studying li’an independently. Li’an is a peculiarity of the Islamic legal systems. Its gap in the other legal systems seemingly in the course of history has led to the recognition of strange legal establishments such as separation without divorce, unwed mothers having children, and taking a person other than husband as the father for a child born in wedlock.
This study applying legal theoretical method hypothetically collecting all relevant materials in Iran including the Quranic verses and relevant sections of the Iranian civil code and taking assistance from legal authors opinions analyses the relevant legal questions and shows how the li’an is necessary for safeguarding the wedlock through playing a countervailing role against the paternity presumption.
After discussion this paper finds that Li’an forbids the husband from insupportable actions such as keeping the marriage in limbo and bringing about a situation of separation without divorce. Li’an would have quite a practical and valuable role to play in abandoning the honor killings and the molestation of wives and their children.
To conclude, li’an is a multifaceted and multifunctional combination of several rules, concepts and consequences perfectly designed to support the family including the husband, wife and the child or children.
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