Lineage Through Fornication (FATWA)

The Question

Can the lineage of the child born through fornication be established with the fornicator when the fornicator is known and confirmed? In this confirmed situation, can he (the child) become the inheritor of the fornicator or not? Please explain and be rewarded.

The Answer

The lineage of the child born through fornication cannot be established with the fornicator even if he admits to it. It was stated in a Ṣaḥīḥ Ḥadīth:

الولد للفراش وللعاهر الحجر

The child is attributed to the one on whose bed it is born and for the fornicator is the stone (deprived of any right).

The Ḥadith sharīf which includes this portion also includes the admitting of the fornicator. Still, the noble Messenger H did not establish the lineage. When the lineage is not established, then why will he become the inheritor? Allāh E knows best.

Answered by:

Muftī Amjad `Alī al-A`ẓamī V