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Is a child considered legitimate if a Muslim man fathers him with his Christian wife after a civil marriage ceremony conducted in the West in the presence of her guardian and a wedding celebration? And what can be done to avoid anything unlawful?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

For marriage to a woman of the People of the Book, there are conditions, among them the permission of her guardian (wali) and the presence of witnesses. The guardian of the woman of the People of the Book must be from her own religion, and the witnesses must be two Muslim men. If these conditions are met, the marriage is valid. If the marriage was invalid but the husband believed it to be valid, then the children are attributed to him and inherit from him. The spouses can renew the marriage in the correct manner. It should be noted that marriage to a woman of the People of the Book may not be free from potential risks.

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

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