❖ Question:
At the time of nikāḥ of a girl born out of wedlock (walad al-zinā), whose name should be mentioned in place of her father?
Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
✿ Answer:
The girl should be attributed to the one on whose bed she was born. Therefore, at the time of nikāḥ, the name of the mother’s husband will be mentioned, as she was born on his bed.
❀ Sayyidah ʿĀ’ishah رضي الله عنها narrated:
ʿUtbah bin Abī Waqqāṣ (a disbeliever) made a will to his brother, Saʿd bin Abī Waqqāṣ رضي الله عنه, saying: “The child of Zamʿah’s slave woman is from my semen, so take him into your care.”
In the year of the conquest of Makkah, Saʿd رضي الله عنه took the child and claimed: “This is my brother’s son; he entrusted me to care for him.”
ʿAbd bin Zamʿah opposed him, saying: “This child is from my father’s slave woman, and he was born on my father’s bed, so he belongs to my father’s family.”
The dispute was presented before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Saʿd رضي الله عنه said: “O Messenger of Allah! He is my brother’s son, and he entrusted me with him.”
ʿAbd bin Zamʿah said: “He is my father’s slave woman’s son, and he was born on my father’s bed, so he is my father’s child.”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“ʿAbd bin Zamʿah! This boy belongs to you. The child belongs to the one on whose bed he is born, and the fornicator gets the stone (i.e., punishment).”
The Prophet ﷺ noticed the boy resembled ʿUtbah, so he instructed Umm al-Mu’minīn Sayyidah Sawdah bint Zamʿah رضي الله عنها (who was the boy’s sister) to observe ḥijāb from him. She never saw him again until her death.
(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 2053; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 1457)
✿ Explanation:
This ḥadīth makes it clear that a child is attributed to the man on whose bed he was born, regardless of any physical resemblance to someone else.
On this principle, a girl born out of wedlock will, at the time of her marriage, have the name of her mother’s husband mentioned as her father, because she was born on his bed.This preserves lineage (nasab) and safeguards Sharʿī rulings.
