When a Child’s Lineage Is Established

Question

Question: A woman was married (nikah) to a man, but she remained in her parents’ house. In the meantime she became illegitimately (haram) pregnant. At the beginning of this pregnancy, that is, in the second or third month, she was sent off to her husband’s home, and on her arrival there her husband learned that this woman was illegitimately pregnant. For this reason he sent her back to her parents’ home and at the same time wrote a divorce deed and sent it to her at her parents’ home by registered post.

Answer

If the child was born before six full months had passed after the nikah, its lineage (nasab) is not established; if the child was born after six full months had passed, its lineage will be established, that is, it will be regarded as the child of this woman’s husband himself — whether the husband acknowledges it or does not acknowledge it but simply stays silent: [ar]وإذا تزوج…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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