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What is the difference between an orphan (yatim) and an abandoned child (lateem), and is an orphan still called an orphan (yatim) after reaching puberty?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

An orphan is one whose father died before he reached maturity, and this description continues until he reaches maturity. As for an animal orphan, it is one whose mother died. And an al-lateem (bereft of both parents) is one whose parents died. Thus, every al-lateem is an orphan if it was before maturity, but not every orphan is an al-lateem.

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

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