To Whom Is an Illegitimate Pregnancy Attributed?

Question

Question: There is a married woman whose husband lives abroad. She is carrying an illegitimate pregnancy; on being questioned, she stated that the pregnancy is from her brother-in-law (her husband’s brother). Her brother-in-law is also married, and he denies it. Now this woman’s husband has given her talaq. With whom should this woman now be settled?

Answer

Even if the woman and the man both admit and agree that this child is from fornication (zina), the child’s lineage (nasab) will still not be established from the fornicator, as stated in the hadith: [ar]الْوَلَدُ لِلْفِرَاشِ وَلِلْعَاهِرِ الْحَجَرُ[/ar] “The child belongs to the marital bed (firash), and for the fornicator is the stone.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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