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Is it Islamically permissible to change the name of a baby girl of a Danish Muslim mother to a full Islamic name, including the surname, with guarantees preventing inheritance from the new family?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is not permissible to attribute a child to anyone other than his known legal father, due to the saying of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: "No man who claims another as his father, while knowing he is not, except that he has disbelieved. And whoever claims kinship with a people to whom he does not belong, let him take his seat in the Fire." And "Whoever claims another as his father while knowing, Paradise is forbidden for him." And "Indeed, among the greatest fabrications is for a man to claim another as his father." A child born of illicit relations (zina) cannot be attributed to a specific family or a specific man, even if he is the mother's husband, due to the saying of Allah the Almighty: "Call them by [the names of] their fathers; it is more just in the sight of Allah. But if you do not know their fathers, then they are your brothers in religion and your protectors." The preponderant opinion is that a child born of illicit relations does not follow his biological father nor is he attributed to him. Rather, his attribution must be to a general, unknown name that does not connect him to a specific family.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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