One Should Ask about What Actually Happened, Not “For Example, for Example”

Question

If a Muslim man, God forbid, utters with his tongue a word of kufr by which he becomes a kafir — for example, he abuses God or denies some matter of the Sacred Law — and then has intercourse with his wife, and she conceives, and, say, a girl is born — then, O my elders in religion, is that girl illegitimate or legitimate? For that man had become a kafir and his marriage had broken, and he had intercourse with the woman, so it was zina; what is the status of that pregnancy?

Answer

Concerning an event that has actually occurred, one should write it down exactly as it happened and ask for the ruling. Asking about hypothetical things in such matters with “for example, for example” is not proper. Becoming a kafir is an extremely grave matter; may Allah the Pure keep us safe.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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