Muslim

Hadith Commentary: Benefits and Issues:
This hadith alludes to the incident in which Muawiyah (radi Allahu anhu) declared Ziyad, the maternal brother of Abu Bakrah (radi Allahu anhu), as his own brother. Both of their mother was a slave woman named Sumayyah.

The actual reality of the incident is that, in the era of ignorance (Jahiliyyah), there were various forms of marriage, as narrated by Aisha (radi Allahu anha) in al-Bukhari. One such form was that many men would have relations with a woman, and when she gave birth to a child, she would call all of them and attribute the child to one of them, and he would have to accept her statement. He could not deny being the father, and the child would be considered his.

During the era of ignorance, Abu Sufyan (radi Allahu anhu) went to Ta’if for some work, where he had relations with Sumayyah. When the child was born, Sumayyah declared him to be the son of Abu Sufyan (radi Allahu anhu). Abu Sufyan (radi Allahu anhu) had no choice but to accept this, and he did so.

Since this incident took place in Ta’if, it did not become widely known. Muawiyah (radi Allahu anhu) accepted this lineage based on the testimony of a few people, because after Islam, the lineages from the era of ignorance were not rejected. However, since this matter was not widely known, some of the noble Companions (radi Allahu anhum) objected to it, although there is nothing objectionable in it from a legal (shar‘i) perspective, because it pertains to the era of ignorance, in which such lineages were considered valid.

In the era of ignorance, people themselves would have their slave women earn through this means, as is mentioned in Surah al-Nur. Therefore, the Islamic principle will not be applied to this, because the incident occurred beforehand.

However, this explanation is contrary to the principle of "al-waladu lil-firash" (the child belongs to the [owner of the] bed), because even though Abu Sufyan (radi Allahu anhu) committed zina, legally the child would be called the son of the owner of the slave woman.

The respected Hafiz Abdussalam (hafizahullah)'s objection is not correct; the lineages of the era of ignorance cannot be judged by Islamic principles, otherwise Muawiyah (radi Allahu anhu) would never have committed such an act, as he was more devoted to Islam than us. In this way, many lineages would become doubtful.

And he was not unaware of the Islamic principle "lil-‘ahir" (for the fornicator). Imam Abu Bakr Ibn al-‘Arabi al-Maliki (rahimahullah) has declared the action of Muawiyah (radi Allahu anhu) to be correct in "al-‘Awasim min al-Qawasim", p. 235.

For a detailed discussion, see: Sayyiduna Muawiyah (radi Allahu anhu): Personality and Character (2/64 to 72), by Hakim Mahmood Ahmad Zafar Sialkoti.