What should the divorced sister do after giving birth to an illegitimate child from a married man who denied paternity? Is she entitled to report it to the authorities to prove the child's paternity through DNA testing? And will the law be on her side?
Source: FtawySummary from Ftawy's records · added here Sep 2, 2026
The child of zina (fornication/adultery) is not attributed to the fornicator, but rather to his mother, according to the majority of jurists, and this is the we follow. The mother is responsible for his care and maintenance. He can be attributed generally to alleviate embarrassment. However, if zina occurs during a revocable divorce (), the child is attributed to her husband. The man who committed zina with her has no right to demand DNA tests to prove paternity, because the child is not legally his according to the majority.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/118392
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- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 118392
- Added here
- . This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
- Text
- Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
- Read the full ruling
- Read the full answer on Ftawy