The Ruling on Inheritance of a Child Born Out of Wedlock
Written by: Imran Ayub Lahori
❖ Principle
The child of Liʿān (mutual imprecation) and the child of a woman who committed fornication (Zāniyah) will only inherit from the mother and her relatives. Likewise, the mother will inherit from the child.
❖ Evidences
① Narration of Sahl bin Saʿd (RA):
كان ابنها ينسب إلى أمه فجرت السنة أنه يرثها وترث منه ما فرض الله لها
“This woman’s son was only attributed to his mother, and this became the practice that the son would inherit from his mother, and she would inherit from him according to what Allah had decreed.”
[Bukhārī: 5309, Kitāb al-Ṭalāq: Bāb al-Talāʿun fī al-Masjid; Muslim: 1492]
② Narration of ʿAmr bin Shuʿaib from his father from his grandfather:
أن النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم جعل ميراث ابن الملاعنة لأمه ولورثتها من بعد ها
“The Prophet ﷺ allocated the inheritance of the child of Liʿān to his mother and to her heirs after her.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd: 2524, Kitāb al-Farā’iḍ: Bāb Mīrāth Ibn al-Mulāʿanah; Abū Dāwūd: 2907, 2908; Bayhaqī: 6/259]
③ Narration of Wāthilah bin al-Asqaʿ (RA):
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
عتيقها ولقيطها وولدها الذى لاعنت عليه
“A woman can inherit from three: her freed slave, the foundling she has raised, and the child upon whom she has done Liʿān.”
[Ḍaʿīf: Ḍaʿīf Abū Dāwūd: 623, Kitāb al-Farā’iḍ: Bāb Mīrāth Ibn al-Mulāʿanah; Irwā’ al-Ghalīl: 1576; Abū Dāwūd: 2906; Tirmidhī: 2115; Ibn Mājah: 2742; Aḥmad: 3/490; Dāraquṭnī: 4/89; Bayhaqī: 6/259; Ḥākim: 4/340]
④ Narration of ʿAmr bin Shuʿaib from his father from his grandfather:
أيما رجل عاهر بحرة أو أمة فالولد ولد زنا لايرث ولا يورث
“Whoever commits fornication with a free woman or a slave woman, and a child is born, then that child is born out of fornication. He will neither inherit nor will anyone inherit from him.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Ṣaḥīḥ Tirmidhī; Tirmidhī: 2113, Kitāb al-Farā’iḍ: Bāb mā jāʾa fī Ibtāl Mīrāth Walad al-Zinā]
❖ Scholarly Statements
- Shawkānī (رحمه الله):
The child of Liʿān will not inherit from the husband (the one who performed Liʿān with the woman).
[Nayl al-Awṭār: 4/133] - Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān (رحمه الله):
The scholars have agreed that the child of Liʿān and a child born out of fornication (Walad al-Zinā) will not inherit from the father.
[al-Rawḍah al-Nadiyyah: 2/701]
