عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا قَالَ اللَّهُ أَعْدَلُ مِنْ ذَلِكَ أَنْ يَضْرِبَنِي ثَمَانِينَ ضَرْبَةً وَقَدْ عَلِمَ أَنِّي قَدْ رَأَيْتُ حَتَّى اسْتَيْقَنْتُ وَسَمِعْتُ حَتَّى اسْتَيْقَنْتُ لَا وَاللَّهِ لَا يَضْرِبُنِي أَبَدًا قَالَ فَنَزَلَتْ آيَةُ الْمُلَاعَنَةِ
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that (when Hilal bin Umayyah (may Allah be pleased with him) accused his wife of adultery, someone said to him: "The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) will certainly have you flogged with the prescribed lashes for slander.") He replied: "Allah is more just than to let me be flogged with those lashes, because Allah knows that I have seen it with my own eyes and I am certain, and I have heard such things that I have become convinced that (evil has occurred with my wife). By Allah! He will never let me be flogged." Then the verse of Li'an (mutual cursing) was revealed.