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Should I change my name to my mother's surname, or is it permissible for me to keep my father's surname after he acknowledged his paternity to me, knowing that various fatwas have been issued on this matter?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Firstly: "The child of adultery" has no relation to the crime of his parents and has all the rights of Muslims.

Secondly: Scholars differed on two opinions regarding the acknowledgment of a child by an adulterer if the woman was not legally married to him. The majority of scholars hold that the child is not attributed to him. However, Al-Hasan, Ibn Sirin, Urwah, Al-Nakha'i, Ishaq, Sulayman ibn Yasar, Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, and Abu Hanifa were of the opinion that the child is attributed to him.

The majority of scholars based their argument on the hadith: "The child belongs to the marriage bed, and for the adulterer is the stone," and that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, ruled that the child of adultery is not attributed to the adulterer and does not inherit from him.

Accordingly, the child of adultery is attributed to his mother and inherits from her.

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

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