Attribution of an illegitimate child and rulings that result from that

 

Thirty-two years ago an illegitimate child was born to a foreign kitaabi woman (i.e. Jewish or Christian woman). He is a young man of very good character and with a good heart. When he reached the age of 25, he started to look for his parents. He found his mother, and he found me, the father, a week ago. It has been proven by DNA testing that I am the father. I got married 31 years ago to a Muslim woman, and I have a daughter and two sons from her, and I have 4 grandchildren. Praise be to Allaah Who guided me, I came back to fear of Allaah and I am religiously-committed: I pray and give zakaah, and I did Hajj and ‘Umrah 3 years ago, my wife and I. I ask Allaah to guide me always and help me to repent. 


I hope that you can advise me: is he a mahram for my wife and daughter? Is he a brother to my children? Should I regard him as one of the family? I hope that you can explain everything that has to do with the matter.

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly: 

We ask Allaah to pardon us and you, and to help us to repent
properly and turn to Him, and to bless us with good and righteous offspring
by His grace and bounty. 

Remember that repentance and guidance are the best things
that a person may be blessed with in this world; they are the greatest
blessings that Allaah can bestow upon us. So we must be grateful to Allaah
for them, and strive to renew them. The Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) used to pray to Allaah for forgiveness and repent to him
one hundred times every day, as was narrated by Muslim (2702). 

Secondly: 

With regard to the attribution of illegitimate children, the
fuqaha’ have discussed this issue in detail and they said that one of two
scenarios must apply to the woman with whom zina is committed: 

1 – Either she is married, in which case any child who is
born to her is to be attributed to the husband and not to anyone else, even
if she is certain that he is the child of the one with whom she committed
zina, unless the husband disowns the child by means of li’aan, in which case
the child is not attributed to the husband, rather he is to be attributed to
his mother and not to the zaani (adulterer). 

2 – Or she is not married. If an unmarried woman has a child,
the scholars differed as to whether the child should be attributed to his
father, the zaani, or to his mother. There are two opinions, which have been
discussed and the evidence for them quoted, in the answer to question no.
33591. See also the answers to questions no.
117,
2103 and
3625. There it
says that the correct view is that this attribution is not valid, so it is
not permissible to attribute the illegitimate child to the zaani, rather he
should be attributed to his mother, even if there is certainty that this
child was fathered by this zaani. 

It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (20/387): 

The correct scholarly view is that the child is not to be
attributed to the man who had intercourse with the woman, unless intercourse
took place within the framework of a valid or invalid marriage or something
that may be taken as a marriage contract or concubinage or something that
may be taken as concubinage. In such cases, the child may be attributed to
the man who had intercourse with the woman, and they may inherit from one
another. But if it was a case of zina then the child cannot be attributed to
the zaani. Based on that, he cannot inherit from him. End quote. 

It also says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah
(22/34): 

With regard to the illegitimate child, he is to be attributed
to his mother, and he comes under the same rulings as any other Muslim if
his mother is a Muslim. He is not to be blamed or put to shame for his
mother’s crime or the crime of the one who committed zina with her, because
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“And no bearer of burdens shall bear another’s burden”

[Faatir 35:18] 

End quote. 

Thirdly: 

It is well known that attribution of lineage affects many
rulings such as rulings on breastfeeding, custody, guardianship,
maintenance, inheritance, qasaas, the hadd punishment for stealing, slander,
testimony etc. Because the more correct view is that the illegitimate child
cannot be attributed to the zaani, none of the rulings mentioned above can
be proven to apply to the father of the illegitimate child, rather many of
them apply to the mother. 

But the illegitimate father (the zaani) is still affected by
the rulings forbidding marriage. According to the majority of scholars, the
rulings forbidding marriage still apply between the illegitimate child and
his father and his father’s relatives. 

Ibn Qudaamah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: 

It is haraam for a man to marry his illegitimate daughter, or
his illegitimate sister, or his (illegitimate) son’s daughter, or his
daughter’s daughter, or his brother’s daughter, or his sister who is
illegitimate. This is the view of most of the fuqaha’. End quote. 

Al-Mughni (7/485). 

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him)
was asked about an illegitimate daughter –can she marry her father? 

He replied:  

Praise be to Allaah. The view of the majority of scholars is
that it is not permissible to marry her. This is definitely the correct
view. End quote. 

Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (32/134). 

It says in al-Mawsoo’ah al-Fiqhiyyah (36/210): 

It is haraam for a man to marry his illegitimate daughter,
because of the clear meaning of the verse (interpretation of the meaning): 

“Forbidden to you (for marriage) are: your mothers, your
daughters…”

[al-Nisa’ 4:23] 

because she is his daughter in a real sense and in linguistic
terms and she was created from his water (i.e. sperm), so the illegitimate
son is forbidden (in marriage) to his mother. 

This is the view of the Hanafis and of the Maalikis and
Hanbalis. End quote. 

Fourthly: 

Based on the above, it is not permissible for this
illegitimate son of yours to marry your daughters, so they are his like
sisters. The same applies to your wife. 

But that does not mean that he is a mahram for them in the
sense that they may be alone with him and take off their hijab in his
presence. Prohibition of marriage does not always mean that one is a mahram
in the sense that it is permissible to be alone with the person etc. This is
an additional ruling which applies only to the shar’i mahrams, so attention
must be paid to that. 

Ibn Qudaamah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: 

Zina means that a person is forbidden in marriage, but it
does not make the person a mahram or make it permissible to look (at a
member of the opposite sex). End quote. 

Al-Mughni (7/482). 

This does not mean that you should not treat this young man
kindly and strive to bring him to Islam and make him a member of the family,
but he should not be attributed to his illegitimate father, and the issue of
the daughters of the family observing hijab in front of him should not be
taken lightly. We ask Allaah to bless you and guide you. 

And Allaah knows best.