INHERITANCE OF AN ILLEGITIMATE CHILD

𝑸𝑼𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵❓

Can a bastard child inherit from his father? If no why? Please give me authorities from Qur'an, Sunnah and other relevant Islamic sources.

𝑨𝑵𝑺𝑾𝑬𝑹❗️

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the World; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

The child of Zina (who was born outside wedlock) is traced back to his mother's lineage and to her family. The rules of Mahram apply to him in relation to his relatives from the mother's side only. His/her legal Wali is from the mother's side and he inherits from that side which is the only one that inherits from him and to which he is legally linked. So, all other rules concerning fatherhood stem directly from the mother's side. Therefore, the child born outside legal wedlock is not traced back to his father, nor does any of them inherit from the other. This is the most preponderant opinion and it is the opinion of the majority of scholars.

Some scholars, however, believe that he can be traced to his father if the latter accepts him as his son. This is the opinion of Is'haq Ibn Rahawayh, Urwah, Sulayman Ibn Yasar and Abu Hanifa . Imam Abu Hanifa says: 'I do not find any harm that a man who makes Zina (adultery and fornication) with a woman and she gets pregnant as a result, that this man protects the honor of this woman by marrying her and the child is his' . But there is sound evidence backing the opinion of the majority of scholars which is the judgment reported from the Prophet ﷺ about the child of Zina: "The Prophet (peace be upon him) decided regarding one who was treated as a member of a family after the death of his father to whom he was attributed when the heirs said he was one of them that if he was the child of a slave-woman whom the father owned when he had intercourse with her, he was included among those who sought his inclusion but received none of the inheritance which was previously divided; he however received his portion of the inheritance which had not already been divided; but if the father to whom he was attributed had disowned him he was not joined to the heirs. If he was a child of a slave-woman whom the father did not possess or of a free woman with whom he had illicit intercourse he was not joined to the heirs and did not inherit even if the one to whom he was attributed is the one who claimed paternity since he was a child of fornication whether his mother was free or slave.

And Allah knows best

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This text is one of the many fatwa (answers to questions based on authentic Islamic provisions) that are made available by Malam Khamis Yusuf. You can follow him on Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp.