Must children maintain ties of kinship with their parents even if they are not married?

A person must be dutiful to their parents and maintain ties of kinship. Kinship is categorized into those with whom marriage is forbidden (mahram) and those with whom marriage is permissible (non-mahram). The mahram are those between whom marriage is not allowed, while the non-mahram are those between whom marriage is allowed.

Scholars have differed on the obligation of maintaining ties of kinship with non-mahram relatives. Some held that it is only desirable (mustahabb), while others maintained that maintaining ties with all kin is obligatory.

If a son is born of adultery, he must be dutiful to his mother and maintain ties of kinship through her. As for his biological father from adultery, the majority of jurists hold that the lineage of a child born of adultery is not established with the adulterer. Therefore, the son is not obligated to be dutiful to him, nor to maintain ties of kinship through him, and there is no inheritance between them. Ibn Hazm said: "Neither does the one formed from his sperm inherit from him, nor does he inherit from him, nor does he have the right of fatherhood over him."

However, some scholars hold that a child born of adultery is attributed to the adulterer under two conditions: the adulterer acknowledges him, and the mother is not married to another man. In this case, all legal rulings apply, such as dutifulness, maintaining ties of kinship, and inheritance.