سنن ابي داود
Abu Dawud
كتاب تفريع أبواب الطلاقDivorce (Kitab Al-Talaq)
باب فِي ادِّعَاءِ وَلَدِ الزِّنَاChapter: Claiming An Illegitimate Son.
Hadith 2266
اُردوEn
حَدَّثَنَا مَحْمُودُ بْنُ خَالِدٍ ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبِي ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ رَاشِدٍ ، بِإِسْنَادِهِ وَمَعْنَاهُ ، زَادَ : " وَهُوَ وَلَدُ زِنَا لِأَهْلِ أُمِّهِ مَنْ كَانُوا حُرَّةً أَوْ أَمَةً ، وَذَلِكَ فِيمَا اسْتُلْحِقَ فِي أَوَّلِ الْإِسْلَامِ ، فَمَا اقْتُسِمَ مِنْ مَالٍ قَبْلَ الْإِسْلَامِ فَقَدْ مَضَى " .
The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by Muhammad bin Rashid through a different chain of narrators to the same effect. This version adds “he is the child of fornication for the people of his mother whether she was free or a slave. This attribution of a child to the parents was practiced in the beginning of Islam. The property divided before Islam will not be taken into account.
Explanation & Benefits
Shaykh Umar Farooq Saeedi
Benefits and Issues:
In the era of ignorance (Jahiliyyah), people possessed slave girls (concubines), some of whom would at times earn money through acts of immorality, and many owners did not refrain from having intercourse with them.
So, if a child was born to such a woman, sometimes the adulterer would claim ownership of the child, and at the same time, the owner would also lay claim to the child.
In Islam, the ruling was established that the child belongs to the owner of the slave girl, not to the adulterer.
Because the slave girl is the bed (i.e., lawful sexual partner) of her owner, just as a free woman is.
And if the situation arose that the child was attributed to the adulterer, and the owner neither claimed nor denied the child during his lifetime, and then he died,
but after his death, the heirs claimed regarding the child that he belonged to the deceased owner, then their claim would be accepted.
And in the inheritance that was distributed before this claim, the child would have no right.
But in the remaining estate, he would receive his due share.
However, if the owner of the slave girl had denied the pregnancy and did not claim the child, then the child would not be attached to him, nor would the heirs have the right, after the owner's death, to claim that the child be attached to the deceased's offspring.
(Ma‘alim as-Sunan by al-Khattabi) An incident of this kind will come ahead in hadith (2273).
In the era of ignorance (Jahiliyyah), people possessed slave girls (concubines), some of whom would at times earn money through acts of immorality, and many owners did not refrain from having intercourse with them.
So, if a child was born to such a woman, sometimes the adulterer would claim ownership of the child, and at the same time, the owner would also lay claim to the child.
In Islam, the ruling was established that the child belongs to the owner of the slave girl, not to the adulterer.
Because the slave girl is the bed (i.e., lawful sexual partner) of her owner, just as a free woman is.
And if the situation arose that the child was attributed to the adulterer, and the owner neither claimed nor denied the child during his lifetime, and then he died,
but after his death, the heirs claimed regarding the child that he belonged to the deceased owner, then their claim would be accepted.
And in the inheritance that was distributed before this claim, the child would have no right.
But in the remaining estate, he would receive his due share.
However, if the owner of the slave girl had denied the pregnancy and did not claim the child, then the child would not be attached to him, nor would the heirs have the right, after the owner's death, to claim that the child be attached to the deceased's offspring.
(Ma‘alim as-Sunan by al-Khattabi) An incident of this kind will come ahead in hadith (2273).
Source: Sunan Abu Dawood – Commentary by Shaykh Umar Farooq Saeedi, Page: 2266
