What is the ruling on a husband disavowing his son's lineage to him, regardless of whether he consummated the marriage with his wife or not, given that there was a valid conjugal privacy?
A severe warning and threat have been issued regarding a father disowning his son: Allah will veil Himself from him and expose him before all people, past and present. The child belongs to the bed; so if a man has a wife or a female slave who becomes his "bed" and she gives birth to a child within the period of his possible paternity (six months from the time they were together), the child is attributed to him and becomes his son. Jurists agree that seclusion [between a husband and wife] is equivalent to intercourse in establishing the paternity of a child born thereafter. However, if divorce occurred before consummation and the woman gave birth to a child, then if the husband disowned it and she corroborated his claim, there is no need for li'an (oath of condemnation). But if she denied his claim, li'an becomes necessary. Therefore, a child born to a woman after her marriage contract and after being secluded with her for six months or more is attributed to her husband, and his denial is of no benefit unless he refutes it through li'an.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/64579