Source: Islami Qanoon-e-Wirasat by Maulana Abu Nu’man Basheer Ahmad
Illegitimate Child (ولدِ زنا) and Child of Li‘ān (ولدِ لِعان)
❖ Question:
Define Walad al-Zinā (illegitimate child) and Walad al-Li‘ān (child of mutual cursing), and explain their rulings in inheritance.
✿ Answer:
1. Walad al-Zinā (ولد زنا):
The child whom a woman gives birth to without a valid marriage (nikāḥ ṣaḥīḥ) or lawful possession through slavery (milk al-yamīn ṣaḥīḥ).
2. Walad al-Li‘ān (ولد لِعان):
The child born to a lawfully wedded woman (manqūḥah) whose husband refuses to acknowledge him as his son. Upon this denial, both spouses appear before the judge and invoke mutual imprecations (li‘ān)—each swearing solemn oaths against the other in accordance with Islamic law.
❖ Ruling Regarding Inheritance (حکمِ میراث):
Both Walad al-Zinā and Walad al-Li‘ān have no inheritance rights from their fathers or paternal relatives, nor do those relatives inherit from them.
This is because the cause of inheritance (nasab – lineage) is not established in these cases.
However, such a child does inherit from his mother and her maternal relatives, and they in turn inherit from him.
The evidence for this ruling comes from the time of the Prophet ﷺ:
When a man performed li‘ān with his wife and denied her child, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ separated them and affiliated the child with the mother.
📚 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Farā’iḍ (Book of Inheritance), Chapter: Mīrāth al-Mulā‘anah (Inheritance of the Child of Li‘ān), Hadith: 6748
📚 Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Kitāb al-Ṭalāq, Chapter: Fī al-Li‘ān, Hadith: 2259
In another narration:
The Prophet ﷺ determined that the inheritance of the child of li‘ān belongs to his mother and, after her, to her maternal relatives.
📚 Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Kitāb al-Farā’iḍ, Chapter: Mīrāth Ibn al-Mulā‘anah, Hadith: 2907
📚 As-Sunan al-Kubrā lil-Bayhaqī, Vol. 6, p. 259
✅ Summary:
① Walad al-Zinā and Walad al-Li‘ān have no legal lineage (nasab) connected to the father.
② They cannot inherit from the father or paternal relatives, nor can those inherit from them.
③ They inherit only from the mother and her side of the family.
④ The ruling is established through authentic narrations from the Prophet ﷺ.
