In the case of doubt concerning the paternity of children due to the wife's affair, with the possibility of conducting DNA tests to prove lineage, does the saying, "The child belongs to the marital bed," remain the sole ruling, and is it Islamically permissible for children whom science has proven not to be from the husband's loins to remain attributed to him?

If it is proven to the husband that his wife is having a relationship with another man, and he strongly suspects that one of his children is not his, then Islamic law has provided a solution for this man in li'an (oath of condemnation). Li'an is better, more judicious, and more concealing than conducting genetic tests. A group of contemporary scholars have gone to the extent of saying that if a husband requests recourse to genetic fingerprinting, his request should not be granted, because it deprives the woman of the concealment that li'an provides. Some scholars have permitted conducting the test before li'an if the results would confirm that the child is from the husband. The Council of the Islamic Fiqh Academy of the Muslim World League has ruled against the permissibility of relying on genetic fingerprinting to deny paternity. Scholars have differed if the accused woman requests recourse to genetic fingerprinting; some say her request should not be granted and li'an is sufficient, while others say her request should be granted because she wants to prove her innocence and her child's lineage to its father, and to relieve the husband's mind.